Photography by Rob Howard
Michael Urie: "We’re the same age, 33, and could be considered the same type. I dated people who weren’t actors before, and it can be complicated for people who aren’t in show business; it can be really boring. He gets it, but sometimes we get sick of it. Then we have to tell ourselves: “OK, let’s not talk about this anymore. You have an audition tomorrow; I have an audition. Now let’s watch a bad action movie.”
Photography by Rob Howard
JD Samson: "For our first anniversary, I drew 365 hearts on a piece of paper, one for each day we’d been together. We have that framed. For our second, I put 730 hearts on a T-shirt to signify two years. The gift for a first anniversary is paper, for the second it’s cotton, and the third is leather. We’re coming up on three years in March… so that’s 1,095 hearts I need to put on leather."
Photography by Rob Howard
Rune Olsen: "With two artists living together, there’s support and jealousy. I think we influence each other—in the way we talk about art, the way we think about it—but our visual language is pretty radically different. Both of us want the best for each other, but I feel that jealousy is a relatively good emotion. If you don’t care, it would be horrible, but jealousy indicates that there are a lot of feelings. And I like that—a lot of feeling."
Photography by Rob Howard
Jeff Strack: "When Ryan messaged me on OkCupid, the voice in my head was, like, I’m just normal, I’m a teacher—this guy is alternative, he’s never going to be into me, but I think he’s really hot. I wasn’t expecting a lot before the date, but I felt so completely comfortable with him, more than I had with any other person I’d been on a date with in New York City."
Photography by Rob Howard
Ryan Steele: “It was raining, and I didn’t have an umbrella so [Matt] walked me home under his umbrella, and halfway down 43rd Street he just leaned in and kissed me.”
Photography by Rob Howard
Aisha: "We were both coming out of relationships and so we kind of just planned to be friends, to have a lesbian buddy to hang out with at the clubs. That lasted about maybe one or two outings... well, we fell in love at first sight. Danielle came into my life and taught me to stop taking myself so seriously. She’s not afraid to dream, and not only does she participate in my dreams with me, but she dreams for the both of us and encourages me and helps me to do so."
Photography by Rob Howard
Maureen: "Our children don’t realize how much of an effect they’ve had on changing people’s minds. Straight people see a lesbian couple, and if they don’t know lesbians or they’re not close with them, they can’t relate. But when they see a family with children, they realize that Cindy and I as parents have a lot of common with them. We’re all trying to take care of our children, keep them safe, bring them up as best we can."
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