‘Limited Partnership’ documentary to screen at Stockton’s Manahawkin Instructional Site June 30

“Limited Partnership,” a documentary film that celebrates the 40-year love story of one of the first gay couples to marry and their decades-long fight for legal status, will screen at Stockton University’s Manahawkin Instructional Site, located at 712 East Bay Ave., on Tuesday, June 30, at 10:30 a.m. The screening is being hosted by the university’s Office of Service-Learning and Political Engagement Project.

Photo via Documentary
The documentary depicts the struggle of one
of the first gay couples to marry in the U.S.

According to university officials, “Limited Partnership” premiered on June 15 on “Independent Lens Television,” an Emmy Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS Monday nights at 10. The acclaimed series features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers.

The documentary chronicles the love story between Filipino-American Richard Adams and his Australian husband, Tony Sullivan.

In 1975, thanks to a courageous county clerk in Boulder, Colo., Adams and Sullivan were one of the first same-sex couples to be legally married in the world, officials stated. Adams immediately filed for a green card for Sullivan based on their marriage. But unlike most heterosexual married couples who easily obtain legal status for their spouses, Adams received a denial letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service stating, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two [expletive deleted].”

Outraged at the tone, tenor and politics of the letter, and determined to prevent Sullivan’s impending deportation, the couple decided to sue the U.S. government, initiating the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for a same-sex marriage in U.S. history.

According to officials, Adams and Sullivan never wavered in their love, lost their sense of humor, or gave up their quest for justice despite a lifetime filled with health issues, money woes and legal challenges. Their personal trajectory parallels the history of the LGBT movement from their meeting in 1971 through the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality in 2013.

A poignant love story, “Limited Partnership” celebrates Adams and Sullivan’s long path as they redefined traditional concepts of “spouse” and “family.”

For more information on the film, visit pbs.org/independentlens/limitedpartnership/.

To register for the screening, which is free and open to the public, call 609-626-3883.

— Kelley Anne Essinger


This article was published in The SandPaper.