Early on the morning of July 1, five days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state prohibitions on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, Brad Steuerwald proposed to Charles Wendell, his partner of 40 years.
They were one of many gay couples in New Orleans to mark the historic announcement by getting engaged. But they were the only ones to own of a flag store that, according to Wendell, has sold more gay pride flags to the residents of New Orleans than any other flag purveyor.
"People come to us for rainbow flags," Wendell said recently, sitting beside Steuerwald at their Magazine Street store, Brad and Dellwen's Flag Party.
Demand for the flags spiked after the June 26 Supreme Court ruling. Wendell says the shop was inundated with requests for all types of rainbow flags, from 12-by-18-inch garden flags to the classic 3-by-5-foot nylon appliqued version.
But as the men rang up customers and restocked the shelves, the question of marriage hung between them like the hundreds of vibrant flags on display throughout the store.
Wendell assumed Steuerwald wanted to get married and began saying as much to customers.
"We've been together 40 years," Wendell said. "Why wouldn't he want to get married if given the choice?"
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