While we celebrate all the great fictional couples that can now get hitched, let’s not forget about a few fan-favorite pairings for whom the decision came too late.
Willow and Tara, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
By Selina Wilken
Probably the most iconic same-sex relationship on TV, Willow and Tara were never torn apart by horrible tragedy. Warren’s bullet missed, nobody dyed their hair black, and everything was as it should be.
Willow and Tara, already back together after their falling-out, learned just how important it was to be honest with each other.
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As The First began haunting Sunnydale, Will and Tara were brought closer together (much to the envy of new recruit Kennedy). After the final battle, the pair joined Buffy on her journey, and for all intents and purposes, they were married. They just never thought to make it official until now.
Willow, while she desperately wanted to make Tara her wife, respected her girlfriend’s wishes to remain unmarried as long as their fellow same-sex couples weren’t able to.
Related: What Joss Whedon should do next: A superfan’s wishlist
But once June 26 rolled around and the world changed, Willow made an impulsive decision: conspiring with Buffy, Xander and Dawn, Willow arranged a surprise little ceremony, skipping the proposal altogether, because she already knew Tara would say yes.
Tara got home, found her wedding waiting for her, and it was the happiest day of her life.
Loras and Renly, ‘Game of Thrones’
By Selina Wilken
Westeros isn’t America. But somehow, across time and space and the veil of alternate realities, the Supreme Court’s decision was heard by the High Septon of King’s Landing.
“Men can now marry other men,” he declared to the gathered crowd. “Like we give a f***, there are dragons and ice warriors coming to kill us!” someone shouted. And that was that.
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So Renly, who had never been killed by his brother — super nice guy Stannis, who was Best Man at the ceremony (Shireen was a flower girl) — and Loras, whose heart was never broken, immediately went to Queen Daenerys (shut up, it’s my fantasy) to ask for her blessing.
Dany smiled. The realm could use a little love.
Jack and Ianto, ‘Torchwood’
By Selina Wilken
Jack can never die. Ianto can. But he didn’t.
The pair lived through the end of Torchwood. Continuing to defeat mean-spirited aliens and humans at every turn, Jack and Ianto faced the best and the worst the universe had to offer.
One moment in history they wouldn’t miss for the world? June 26, 2015. Jack and Ianto took a break from saving the world to travel to Washington, D.C., sneaking into the Supreme Court and hearing the ruling first-hand.
Related: The Exodus Code by Carole and John Barrowman brings Torchwood back to life
They kissed, joyous, and that was when Ianto popped the question. They were here. It was legal. Why not?
Jack, never one for doing things halfway, went directly to Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts was a little peeved (he was in dissent, after all), but what could he do? It was legal, and the strange men had somehow cornered him in his private bathroom!
Covered only with suds (he’d been taking a bath, and the scoundrels hadn’t even knocked!), the Chief Justice married Jack and Ianto right there, in view of God and man and a very fancy toilet. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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