Straight eye for the queer guy.

• Author: Reed, Rick R.
• Position: Literary Scene

"It is not about what is between our legs, but what is between our ears, and in our hearts. Love is love. Why on earth ... would anyone want to deny that to his or her fellow man or woman?"

IF YOU TALK to writers, especially fiction writers, about the question they get asked most often, I would be willing to bet at least 99% of them would say the same thing--where do you get your ideas? It is a question that is as silly as it is profound. Who knows where inspiration comes from, really? We can give a glib, wise-guy response, like "On eBay," but the truth is where an idea hails from often can be as much a mystery for the artist as it is for his or her ultimate viewer.

In my case, I was asked that question a lot about my latest book, Legally Wed, which is a romantic comedy about a gay man's journey to finding real love. I would say, as a resident of Washington and as a gay man who married his husband on the very first day that same-sex marriage was made legal in our state, that it was that historic event which inspired me.

My now-husband and I were some of the first people in line down at City Hall in the small hours of the morning to get our marriage license on the first day we could. There was such joy at City Hall that morning, both from couples getting their licenses and the employees and supporters who had come out to witness this historic moment. I wanted to write about not just love, but marriage and to do it in a framework that examined both.

The whole time I was writing the book, I thought I was just writing a kind of lighthearted tale about a gay man, disappointed in love and hungering for the commitment he saw in his own family of origin all around, getting drunk one night and, on a lark, placing an ad on Craigslist: Gay Man Seeks Straight Woman for Marriage.

It was not until long after I wrote the book, went through the editing process, and saw it for sale in stores that I realized my inspiration did not just come from wanting to write, in a fun and touching way, about the hot topic of gay marriage, but how my own life mirrored the book.

In real life, the idea of marrying a woman was borne of a deep-seated desire for commitment and family. For a young man who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, the road to that fulfillment was through marriage--to a woman. Some 30 years ago, when I married the female love of my life (let's call her Alison), there was no other road open to me for marriage and family.

In 1982, the idea that two men or...