Marriage Equality in Kitsap County, Heroism in Norway

A couple of things have happened recently that I think are worth noting –

One you probably heard about…

Here in our Kitsap County corner of the world, we had a piece of good news about marriage equality, and I applaud the Suquamish Tribe for stepping up and doing the right thing – recognizing the same-sex couples in their community with the right to civil marriage.  I also applaud the woman who stood up and asked for the Tribal Council’s consideration of approving same-sex marriage, which started the ball rolling towards marriage equality for the Suquamish Tribe.

The second you probably did not hear about…

Not too long before the unanimous vote of the Suquamish Tribal Council, in a distant land and in the midst of tragedy and terror, a married lesbian couple in Norway was showing that they were heroic members of their community by saving 40 youth from the shooting on Utoya island.

The Finnish capital city’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, published an article about what these courageous women did in Norway, which was translated into English and published in a blog post of Talk About Equality: “If a Married Lesbian Couple Saves 40 Teens from the Norway Massacre and No One Writes About it, Did it Really Happen?”

Here is the article (translated from Finnish):
Hege Dalen and her spouse, Toril Hansen were near Utöyan having dinner on the opposite shore across from the ill-fated campsite, when they began to hear gunfire and screaming on the island.

“We were eating. Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake,” says Dale to HS in an interview.

The couple immediately took action and pushed the boat into Lake Tyrifjorden.

Dalen and Hansen drove the boat to the island, picked up from the water victims in shock in, the young and wounded, and transported them to the opposite shore to the mainland. Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat.

Since there were so many and not all fit at once aboard, they returned to the island four times.

They were able to rescue 40 young people from the clutches of the killer.

“We did not sleep last night at all. Today, we have been together and talked about the events,” Dalen said.

Lesbians making history both near and far.

~ Marcie