By College Fix

The president of Whitman College late last month presided over the marriage between a senior at the school and her Whitman alum “wusband.”

President Sarah Bolton officiated the nuptials of Lita Bacus and “nonbinary lesbian” Fi Black at which “I do’s” and “dyke” rings were exchanged at Whitman’s Olin Hall, the Whitman Wire reports.

“Wusband,” according to UrbanDictionary.com, is “the ‘husband’ in a lesbian marriage who does all the ‘manly’ chores and helps to raise & discipline the kids rather than be the pregnant one.”

Bacus sent out emails inviting all of Walla Walla, Washington (the town in which the small, private Whitman is located) to her “Big Gay Wedding,” which she described as a “performance, a protest and a celebration.”

The wedding dress code was “dyke decadence,” and instead of gifts Bacus and Black asked for “donations to LGBTQIA+ causes.” Many in the local “young punk and queer scene” were in attendance.

In addition, “dykes are sacred,” “dyke love is holy,” and “sapphic saints” were written across a pair of pews in the hall, and the bridesmaids “sprinkled” dental dams in lieu of flower petals.

The invite reads in part

Because joy is resistance. Because marriage is a performance a state-sanctioned contract, a ritual, a public declaration-and here, it becomes a protest, a necessity, a survival strategy in the face of systemic oppression …

This piece is a response to the real and immediate dangers posed by anti-queer legislation. By bringing this act into the gallery space, the audience is forced to confront its material, legal, and emotional stakes. It is a protest, yes, but it is also a wedding. It is art because it is life, performed. It is art because levity belongs in protest. Because beauty can be defiant. Because queer love, in a world that fights to erase it, is art.

Bacus said “recent rhetoric” against gay marriage played a part in deciding to make the wedding a “protest.” The invite cites anti-gay marriage comments by three conservative U.S. representatives and SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Wire claims the country “has become increasingly hostile” towards the LGBTQ+ community in President Trump’s second term, using “anti-queer policy to exacerbate” the American culture wars. A Whitman student who attended the wedding said the ceremony seemed like a “giant fuck you to [the] Trump admin.”

Bacus noted she and Black met at a sculpture studio when Black “was making their giant beetles for their own art thesis.” The couple since has created DykeMint, a “slow sustainable anime inspired [sic] fashion brand that pushes the boundaries of creativity with its chaotic maximalist collage compositional pieces and unboxable aesthetic.”