From The Editor: Love In Its Entirety

Love is a complicated thing. For all its beauty, wonder and joy, it can be equally ugly, painful and devastating.

Lavender usually focuses on the positive side of love. Rightfully so, I think. There’s enough bad news out there already, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. Who wants to pick up a Love & Marriage issue, hoping for a break from the doom and gloom of the news cycle, to read about breakups or unrequited love?

Our cover story for this issue is not a rom-com-worthy tale that starts with a meet-cute and ends happily ever after. It is not, however, a purely sad story, either. It is a celebration of an incredible love story, tragically cut short, that will live on forever — in the hearts of Denzel Flowers, the family and friends of Gabe Harvey, and, I hope, those who read it.

While Denzel and Gabe’s story is tragic, it is also beautiful and wonderful and joyous. The cherished moments that Denzel shared with us, and the many more he didn’t, will remain in his memory. Nothing, not even something as cruel as the crash that killed Gabe, can take them away.

All of it, from their first phone call to Gabe’s death and all of the ups and downs in between, are part of their story. This story, unlike a Hallmark holiday romance, reflects the whole nature of love. It is a reminder of why, despite the risks of making yourself vulnerable and sharing your whole self with another person and the depression and misery it can bring, we continue to love.

Love is the most beautiful, terrible, awesome thing in the world. It is the gift and the curse of the human condition. To truly appreciate it, we must understand it for all it is — not just the fun parts.

I am incredibly grateful to Denzel for sharing his story with us and with you. I hope that it touches you in the same way it touched me.