America’s Most Captivating Couples 2007
Daria “Deno” Orechwa
27, Graduate Student/Youth Services Counselor
Ingrid “Inno” Dahl
26, Rock Musician/Editor/GO Writer/Founding Member of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls
San Francisco, CA & Jersey City, NJ
Deno and Inno met at Rutgers University in (year). Today, Deno is a graduate student at San Francisco State, and assists queer teens at the Huckleberry House shelter. Her goal is to open a queer community center someday with its own thrift store. At the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, Inno also works with teens—managing their bands and teaching them to play different instruments. In addition, she’s a writer for GO and plays in the groups Boyskout, The 303s, and Lismore. This couple, who say they “like to make out and lay on each other everywhere we go,” are currently in a long-distance relationship. What keeps it on track? “Teamwork; consideration; independence; admiration; text messages; imaginary scenarios; missing one another; extreme cuteness; generosity; and phenomenal sex.”
It was difficult to narrow down the entries, but we finally did it–and the result is the year’s most captivating couples! Ranging from a historic preservationist to a superhero to a TV talk show host (times two), it’s great to see so many proud women, not just in love, but spreading that love around and making the world a brighter place. Their stories inspired us, and we know they’ll inspire you, too. Say hello to this year’s sweethearts.
MARGE & DIANE
Marge Ballack
53, Librarian’s Assistant at the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute/Former and Future Kitchen Design Business Owner
Diane Lantz
58, Superintendent of the Shipping and Receiving Department at The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, WA
Marge met Diane in 1978, while briefly working for the paper where Diane was—and still is—employed. “We knew in our hearts that we were meant to be together,” says Marge. She ultimately moved in to Diane’s place, but left “with a broken heart” in 1985. Yet “within a few months, we decided that even though we weren’t perfect, we were still deeply in love.” In 2003, Marge and Diane married in British Columbia, and in 2004, they participated in a lawsuit to have that marriage recognized in the state of Washington. Though they ultimately lost—“for ridiculous reasons,” says Marge—their battle threw a bright light on inequality and they, as a couple, seem to shine with a light as well. When PBS interviewed them recently, a crewmember said that out of the thousands of couples he filmed, they were the most loving.
