Posted on 08/17/2009 11:08:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Davie couple celebrates their 70th anniversary as lesbian lovers
Celebrating an anniversary that has lasted as long as many people’s lives is some kind of feat. But doing it while having to keep your love a secret for nearly seven decades is a testament to just how strong the bond between Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu is.
The two women, who live in Davie, celebrate their 70th anniversary today and plan to bring in the monumental accomplishment like any pair of 90-plus-year-old-women would - with the polka.
The forbidden romance started in 1939 at a party in New York. The chance meeting quickly flourished into the women living together a year later as roommates to the outside world, but secretly as lovers. Leto, now 96, told the Sun-Sentinel the couple told people they were just close friends or sisters.
The lesbians kept up the charade for decades – through the women’s rights movement and continuing on into the fight for gay rights - with only the closest of friends knowing of their relationship.
"I think most people had their suspicions, but they didn't really make a big deal about it because it was just two women," 97-year-old Magazzu said. "They didn't ask, and we just didn't talk about it."
The couple didn’t become legal partners until 1996 at a ceremony in New York. They decided to move back to Florida where Magazzu penned a book about the couple’s struggle with love entitled “An Unadulterated Story: Young and Gay at 90.”
To mark their anniversary, the couple plans on throwing a party at Etz Chaim, a gay and lesbian congregation in Wilton Manors.
This is how it went recently for Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu as they sipped lemonade on their couch in Dania Beach:
''We're not going to have a party,'' said Magazzu, 97, insisting they are too old for such things.
''Oh yes we are,'' responded Leto, 96, who noted the two can still polka. ``This is a big one.''
Indeed. A party celebrating 70 years together is a big deal for any pair. But a celebration of this couple's love takes on special meaning, considering they had to keep silent about it for decades.
''You just couldn't tell everyone we were lovers,'' said Leto. ``You tell people we're friends, and some thought we were sisters.''
Leto and Magazzu downplay their pioneering role in the gay and lesbian community. But many of their friends and relatives talk it up anyway, marveling at how their love was able to transcend a lifetime's worth of obstacles.
To mark their Aug. 17 milestone, members of Etz Chaim, a gay and lesbian congregation in Wilton Manors, are planning a party. They hope Leto and Magazzu will attend and show everyone how to do the polka.
''Honestly, I think they are more in love with each other than they were back then,'' said longtime close friend and congregation member Gayle Scott. ``Look at straight couples. You are lucky if you are married after seven years. That is an amazing love story.''
In 1939 Leto and Magazzu met at a party in New York. Caroline thought Venera was stylish. Venera thought Caroline was funny.
After a courtship of about a year, Magazzu, a teacher, and Leto, a telegraph operator, moved into a tiny house in New York. They spent most of their lives there, with only close family members and closer friends knowing about their relationship.
Magazzu, a former Army medic, said she often fought the urge to tell others but feared what ''outsiders'' would think. She believes society back then was more receptive to two women living together than two men -- or at least less inquisitive.
''I think most people had their suspicions, but they didn't really make a big deal about it because it was just two women,'' she said. ``They didn't ask, and we just didn't talk about it.''
Leto's niece, Patricia Dillion, said she grew up believing the two were sisters and referred to them as aunts. One day, at a family party, an apparently tipsy Leto let Dillion in on a secret.
''She mentioned they got married,'' said Dillion. ``I was so happy, but then I got sad thinking that all that time they really couldn't be upfront about it.''
SNIP
NO PHOTOS PLEASE !
Show Dem Pics Yo,LOL
In the closet for 70-years?
Somebody should notify the Guinness Book of World Records...
Damn!
That was cruel.
My wife gasped from across the room.
This will be a HUGE story on all the MSM outlets
In case anyone wants to send them gifts on their anniversary, they’re registered at Empire Carpet.
70 years of sin.
Imagine that, don't make a big stink about your bedroom antics, and most decent people will just leave you alone.
And even in the dark ages of the 50's Christian zealot Republicans weren't burning your house down and dragging you to the gallows? Inconceivable!!!
I wouldn’t have believed that an organization like this existed, but here it is - and yes, there’s a photo on the page:
lol
I did not need a close up
Why?
They got the munchies?
Not looking. nope. ain’t going to do it. wouldn’t be prudent.
Hint:
The acronym on the URL stands for “Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.”
(You have to be over 60 to become a member.)
..... that last sentence is replete with opportunities for double and single entendres ..... be my guest
Dear God in Heaven!
So, ONE lezbo relationship out of how many lasted 70 years? Not a very good record. And still doesn’t make it right.
ugh
Oh my.
Well that explains it.
EWWWWWWWWWWW. Carpet munchers.
so, once again, a private sin becomes a case to celebrate... how sad...
I doubt it. Soup maybe.
Okay.....enough with the barfing already!!!!
SHEESE......We need a barf alert for the barf river!
They keep defining deviancy down . I don’t know about you , but when I was a kid , hell in 1980 , if somebody had told me that someday men would be able to marry men , and women marry women , I would have called the looney bin on them .
What do you give for 70 years of lesbian love? Matching BEEF CURTAINS.
Tuna pillow slips.
Soft Tacos?
70-years??
Anyone wanna guess what the expiration date was on those two??
Green River of Barf! We could sing a song about it
I’m guessing the favorite meal of the house: Cold grilled cheese sandwiches and mayonnaise.
Oh well, misery loves company so here ya go Laz!
No, they need to hide it. This couple lived their lives with being oppressed for being homosexual. Showing homosexuals living their lives not as victims all through the 20th century cannot be allowed.
Exactly. That’s the take away from this story.
ppy anniversiy and many returns but you were not mqarrieid you dumbass!
I don’t understand why FReepers always treat homosexuals so badly. These sound like a pair who lived the lives the way they wanted to and didn’t bother anyone. Isn’t that what a Free Republic is all about?
I know we all hate a “gay agenda.” That is something different.
But there must be a lot of gay Freepers or FReepers with gay kids. Are you really going to disown them and shame them??
If some of you consider it a sin, well, there are a LOT of sins and I have this feeling that there are no FReepers who are without any.
I’m happy for these two and their anniversary.
Generally because they treat us with disdain. If gays would just shut up, take it private and stop making the actions of their genitals a cause celebre and reason for their existence, we'd leave them alone.
(You have to be over 60 to become a member.)
I'll give that URL to one of my roommates...
These two did just that for 69 years.
she has been in a lesbican relationship with same woman since the 50s....I kid you not
they are blue haired and knit macrame and make blankets for my kids and whatnot and are very socially conservative and quiet
they live with another ancient aunt of mine who is 85 and still cuts the grass down there in the summer with a push mower in the sun
i always knew it was different as a boy but was around 11 or so before I figgered it out
I and my 5 kids are about all they have left and we see them whenever we can but they are 6 hours away from Music City.
I love them and am ambivalent about their lifestyle but they have never been anything but warm to me and are not manhaters at all like many loud Timberland wearing types nor are they real dykey...but they are a hair masculine
very odd....most of the women in my mom's family were very pretty and tough....piney woods-red clay gals
i think the dad of these was mean, physically abusive and drunk...and one of the lesbicans has had polio since late 40s so who knows
anyhow....that's my story
I am not real open to male homosexuality but we did care for a dying AIDs man here who had no one to turn to
with men....it's just too neurotic and drama and self obsession
with women...some are so manlike or they are seeking refuge...
who knows....i can see queerness in a young boy pretty early...late toddler...they act all femme
born with or conditioned?
i can't say though I know some here swear they know
The Thunder God went for a ride
upon his favorite filly
I’M THOR! he cried
His steed replied
you forgot the thaddle thilly...
;^)
case closed......as Archie Bunker said. and so many do not feel it...you are so right.
So, they never asked for your approval or made a big deal about it. No problem. You didn’t have to say you agreed with that lifestyle, but you treated them like you would a relative.
AHHHRRRGG, warn a person eh?
LOL ;)
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