“Pride 2024′′ is a collection of stories from members of Staten Island’s LGBTQ+ community, the milestones they have reached and the challenges they still face. If you have someone you would like to nominate for a profile, e-mail their name and a brief nomination to [email protected] .
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Brandon Girouard says he took a big risk five years ago in his first social media message to his now-fiancé, Christopher Cicero.
“You look like husband material,’’ he felt compelled to write, he recalls with a chuckle. Cicero’s response came a few days later: “I do?” No risk, no story. That’s what Girouard says.
It’s a mantra worth clinging to as the two plan their married life on Staten Island — New York City’s most conservative borough — where the couple says support and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community is growing, but is far from mainstream. The couple will be married on Sept. 6, 2025, following a storybook proposal delivered by Cicero on a New Zealand mountaintop.
Each has the support of his family. And they have plenty of company. The number of recorded same-sex married couples in the United States has grown significantly over the past decade, more than quadrupling from 181,922 in 2012 to 740,523 in 2022, research found.
The couple already purchased their dream home on Ward Hill, a mid-century modern originally built in 1990, which Cicero, a project manager for the engineering firm AECOM Tishman, has renovated from the ground up. �.
