A Queer Piece of Paper from Mormon Girl to Rabbi’s Wife

By: Kimberly Burnham

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A Queer Piece of Paper: From Mormon Girl to Rabbi’s Wife is a funny, honest, and deeply personal story about love, identity, and the long road to marriage equality. Born a fifth-generation Mormon in Provo, Utah, Kimberly Burnham grew up believing she would marry a man, take his last name, and follow the life path laid out for her. Instead, she fell in love with women, lived illegally in Canada, applied for a marriage license she knew would be denied, and once slept in a decoy bed that came with a black widow spider. Through sharp humor and heartfelt reflection, Burnham tells the story of decades spent navigating the legal and social maze surrounding same-sex relationships—from the days when loving another woman could get you expelled from college or arrested, through the era of DOMA and marriage bans, and finally to standing under a Jewish wedding canopy at age sixty-one, singing “Woman of Valor” to the love of her life. Part memoir, part stand-up comedy, and part social history, A Queer Piece of Paper explores what marriage really means when you spend half a lifetime being told you can’t have one. It’s a story about waiting for the law to catch up with the heart—and discovering that love, family, and belonging sometimes arrive later than expected, but right on time.