Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival 2009

'for my wife... ' is a feature documentary chronicling the life of Charlene Strong. Charlene lost her partner of nine years, Kate Fleming (an accomplished audio book narrator) in a tragic flood in their Seattle home. Frantically, Charlene attempted to save Kate, nearly drowning in the process. When rescuers arrived they managed to pull Kate from the frigid water and rushed her to a nearby emergency room. When Charlene arrived at the hospital she was denied access to Kate as she lay dying. Charlene had to call Kate’s next of kin on the East Coast to get permission to be by Kate's side as she lay dying. The hospital eventually relented, only minutes before Kate passed away. Later, making funeral arrangements, Charlene again faced discrimination - the funeral director offered no condolences and would not address Charlene's wishes to handle the arrangements, speaking only to Kate's mother. But when it came time to pay for the arrangements, he willingly accepted Charlene’s credit card. Shortly thereafter, Charlene was asked to testify in the Washington State Senate on behalf of a Domestic Partnership Bill. Inarguably, as a result of her testimony the bill passed. The Domestic Partnership Bill provides a handful of benefits to same-sex couples including hospital visitation and inheritance rights. 'for my wife...' follows Charlene as she works tirelessly nationwide as an activist for Marriage Equality