A couple of months ago, bestselling writer Glennon Doyle Melton declared that she and soccer legend Abby Wambach were in love, and now they would like you to know they’re getting married! “Abby and I have decided to hold hands forever. Love Wins,” is how Glennon Doyle Melton made the announcement on Facebook. “Happy. #iseethemoonnow,” is how Abby Wambach made the announcement on Instagram. This will be the second marriage for both women, who seem to have made peace with the fact that their respective fan bases exist on entirely different social media platforms.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Wambach. She played her last professional soccer game at the end of December 2015, released her memoir, Forward — which detailed her struggle with addiction and announced her divorce from longtime partner and USWNT teammate Sarah Huffman — in September 2016, went public with Melton in November 2016, and is now on her way to the altar. (That U-Haul cliche exists for a reason, I’m sorry.)
Nearly every website and magazine on the earth referred to Glennon Doyle Melton as a “Christian mommy blogger” when she and Wambach came out as a couple last fall, which made me pop my eyebrow, but I’ve had the chance to read some of her work in the last few months and it turns out she has been an outspoken advocate for equality in the Christian community for a long, long time, something that put her at odds with the LGBT-scapegoating political power grabbing that has dominated so much of the white evangelical conversation these last few … decades. Glennon Doyle Melton hasn’t shied away from talking about her relationship with Abby Wambach in the context of her faith. She made one explanation to her 645,000 Facebook followers when she came out (in which she said she knows Jesus loves her because Abby is a good cook) and hasn’t apologized or equivocated since then.
The world is a scary place right now, but these two women found love and hope in the darkness and we wish them all the luck and happiness in the world.
I feel like we’ve fully colonized the institution of marriage as actually practiced by Americans now. Not only are we getting married, our celebrities are having personal crises, breaking up with their wives, finding new baes and getting remarried at a breakneck pace! Abby Wambach, welcome to the pantheon of Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, Larry King, Trump, etc. I earnestly hope she’s doing okay and this will result in lasting happiness, but I can’t help but be a little judgey.
ya me too. :/ even our famous queers are showing us by examples that you need to be in relationship or else you’ll feel empty. what the heck.
That’s a helava projection there….
This seems like.. a bad idea, but what do I know.
Good luck, you crazy kiddos! ?
This feels like a train wreck waiting to happen.
I mean, even if you put aside the relatively quick transition from being married to being divorced to being another relationship to being engaged, for both women…
And if you ignore that they’ve put GDM’s children on this incredible rollercoaster…
…you still have the issue of this relationship being forged as Wambach’s trying to achieve her first year of sobriety.
This just feels like the latest in a long line of horrible decisions by two adults who should know better.
I’ll save my good wishes for the kids. I hope they’re getting the support they need.
Forget Uhaulin, most marriages don’t survive when they ask them to get married before the ink is dry on the divorce decree.
Here’s to good pics of the USWNT at the wedding reception
Yes!
*prayer hands emoji*
YES.
also, thanks Carmen, glad someone didn’t just come here to throw the first stone.
Where are they registered? Just better save the receipt.
Is it the same ring as Sarah’s https://twitter.com/shuffman14/status/371397590203375616
“After I told Craig, the first thing he said was: Holy shit. Is this what all the Indigo Girls has been about? I said, WHOA. I DON’T KNOW…MAYBE? ”
This coming out post by Glennon is fascinating.
Uhhh I know a lot of people like to be cynical on the internet but I DON’T CARE GAY LOVE IS ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL NO MATTER HOW LONG IT LASTS
<3
Same same
Okay. I’m pretty solidly anti-marriage for myself. But did you guys read that coming out post? It was beautiful and strong and made me think maybe they’ve found something I haven’t (a startling response from someone very Stef-like in the “love is a lie and everyone dies alone” kind of way). Anything that makes someone feel and write like THIS:
is something I’ll support. I wish them the best.
I know nothing about Abby Wambach, but a month ago I was driving a few hours home from a funeral and got desperate for entertainment and decided to listen to an episode of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Magic Lessons podcast that had been sitting around on my phone for months. I love Elizabeth Gilbert, unabashedly, but even though I work in the creative field I just felt ‘meh’ about her book Big Magic and subsequent podcast Magic Lessons about living creatively. It makes me weirdly uncomfortable because it hits close to home and I probably won’t listen to another episode, but Glennon Doyle Melton happened to be the guest and the conversation she and Gilbert had was so good.
I had no idea Glennon came out, and I was hoping Liz Gilbert would talk about coming out of the closet too, but somehow neither of them mentioned it even though they both wrote books about being in love with the person with whom they are now divorced! What she had to say about love and her relationship with God and her family was truly lovely, though, it made me want to read a lot more from her.
Anyway. I’m feeling really grossed out at all the negative comments. Is there some kind of backstory here were it makes sense that everyone is so judgemental about these two women? Even if there is, I don’t really get the impulse to come and shit all over this news, but, you know, the world has let me down a lot lately so who knows. I’m happy for them.
I feel just the same way! I read Love Warrior by GDM last fall and it was a really impactful and memorable read. I’m puzzled by how Glennon Doyle Melton keeps being referred to as “evangelical,” because I don’t think that’s true, and the negative comments gross me out. :/
My grandmother used to say that there is so much hate in the world that you need to love love, and simply the act of loving can make the world a better place. I hope nothing but the best for these two, and I hope they have all the love in the world. ❤
Wise woman your grandma
I admit that my very first thought after seeing this was oh nooooo. I know exactly where they are. It is blissful, beautiful, so sweet but I feel like they should take a breath. Regardless of my reservations for them, I hope that they have the happiest of unions and love until they are both wrinkled and grey.