When lesbian grandmas Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone biked from St. Augustine, Fla., to San Diego last year in support of same-sex marriage, people thought they were wasting their time.

	Carrie, left, and Elisia Ross-Stone bike through New Mexico on their way across the country. They were legally married in Canada last year. Click photo for larger image.

"We were told last year that this would never be talked about anytime soon in any legislative hall," says Carrie.

Today, same-sex marriages are legal in Massachusetts. Cities in California, Oregon, New York and New Mexico have issued same-sex marriage licenses that are being or will be challenged in state courts or legislatures, and in two weeks the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on an amendment to the Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.

What a difference a year makes. Seems a lot of people are talking about it now.

And the Rainbow Ride Grannies, as the Ross-Stones have dubbed themselves, are still cycling their way across the country in support of same-sex marriage, with a stop at Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m. They'll be speaking as part of a program examining the legal inequalities facing same-sex families and offering legal remedies.

"I originally wanted to do it on Rollerblades," Carrie, 49, of Tampa, Fla., says of their 3,000-mile journey, but her 50-year-old partner thought that an outrageous idea.

Their 2004 Rainbow Ride began May 2 in San Francisco and ends July 10 with a rally in New York City's Battery Park. Along the way, they've done protest battle with anti-gay Rev. Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kan., and visited Laramie, Wyo., where 21-year-old gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was killed. They've stopped in Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Salt Lake City; Fort Collins, Colo.; St. Louis; Springfield, Ill.; Bloomington, Ind., and Columbus, Ohio.

"The reason we chose to do something like a bicycle is so we could have face-to-face contact with people," says Carrie, a lawyer originally from Mars, Butler County. "This is an opportunity to let the world look at us and see that we're not scary and see that we don't look like sexual deviants and that we don't really look different than anybody else except our legs look nice [from all the cycling]. They look better, but it doesn't help your middle or your arms."

They've biked about 40 to 60 miles a day, but when necessary have gone more than 100 miles in a day. Carrie jokes that they had no idea they'd be changing people's impressions of grandmothers at the same time they would be tearing down stereotypes of lesbians.

	The Rainbow Ride Grannies, Carrie, left, and Elisia Ross-Stone, dip their toesin the Pacific Ocean. Click photo for larger image.

The Ross-Stones have been together 10 years and were legally married in September 2003 in Ontario, Canada.

"Whenever I married Elisia and even before then, I was telling the world, the government, the community, my family and telling her that she is the most significant person in my life without having to put it in writing or worrying about someone challenging it," says Carrie, who along with her partner, a registered nurse, runs www.rainbowlaw.com, a Web site where gays and lesbians can obtain legal documents to help protect their rights, finances and property. Under Canadian law, "I'm automatically giving her the right to inherit my property, the right to have the deciding vote in what happens with my medical care and what happens to my finances and what happens to my body when I die. We automatically have the right, then, to be together in a nursing home. She has the right to receive my Social Security benefits. I can give her the title 'spouse' now in the country of Canada, but she's still considered a stranger [to me] in this country."

The couple have three adult children, a son-in-law and a grandson, all in the United States. Elisia's parents live here, too.

"It would be easy to immigrate to Canada and give up, but we have faith in America," she says. "We don't want to move to Canada. We believe America is founded on Christian values of equality, justice, liberty, privacy and dignity for all human beings.

"It's been a struggle for many people to get that definition of equality to include them. Now it's our turn."

Carrie thinks that some people opposed to same-sex marriage are hypocritical and cherry-picking the sections of the Bible they choose to believe.

"You never hear them say that you should base your laws on 'turn the other cheek,' which would eliminate capital punishment," she says. "They don't really talk much about how the Bible says you shouldn't amass large quantities of wealth, because we're a capitalist society.

"We don't write laws that would suggest we stone to death adulterers because then most members of the Senate and Congress and several presidents and many religious leaders would be stoned to death," she adds. "It's really painful for us when an African-American minister says things like, 'If the KKK were riding into town against gay marriage, I'd be riding with them,' but I know Coretta Scott King is for gay marriage rights."

And while they've been warmly received most everywhere they've gone, their Rainbow Ride has hit a few bumps. They've faced protesters. They've received death threats.

"We've been honked at and screamed at as we ride down the road, and it can be pretty intimidating," she says.

However, they plan to do it again next year, biking from Seattle to Boston.

"We feel like we're accomplishing something and the more that we do, the more people we meet and the more they talk to us telling us we're making a difference in their lives, the more fulfilling it is," Carrie says.

Rally at the Warhol

Other speakers joining the Rainbow Ride Grannies at the Andy Warhol Museum tomorrow will include Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto, State Rep. Dan Frankel, PUMP Executive Director Mike English, Women's Law Project/ACLU representative Stacey Young, the Rev. Janet Edwards of the Presbyterian Church USA and Michael Snow of PA Rights Coalition.

Coincidentally, Bike the Vote, a nonpartisan voter registration group that also has been biking across the country, will be passing through Pittsburgh at the same time and will be registering voters at the Warhol and the rally with the Rainbow Ride Grannies.

"We're really excited to meet up with these women, and marriage equality is one of our platforms," says Vanessa Herald, spokeswoman for the four-member Bike the Vote group, which was biking its way here from just outside Altoona earlier in the week. "Biking across the country is tough, but it's crazy and gets people's attention and really opens people's minds to what your message is. I'm really impressed they're willing to tackle this and it's really inspiring."

The doors and a cash bar at the Warhol, 117 Sandusky St., open at 6 p.m. Speakers begin at 6:45 p.m. with a social hour following from 8 to 9 p.m. A $5 donation at the door includes a raffle ticket for prizes including a copy of the documentary being filmed of the Rainbow Ride Grannies as they bike across the country.

Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP to pghrainbowrsvp@hotmail.com today. Those without Internet access can call 412-422-0367 to RSVP before 9 p.m. today.

To join a 5 to 6 p.m. equality ride with the Rainbow Ride Grannies and the Bike the Vote team, e-mail cchristen@persadcenter.org. To register to vote online, visit www.bikethevote.org.