A Flirty Weekend Led to Talk of Marriage

The first time Tara Jae spoke to RaeShanda Eyon Lias on the phone in March 2025, a scheduled 15-minute call stretched to more than an hour. Mx. Jae, the founder of Black Pride Colorado, had invited Ms. Lias to speak at a June event and then picked her up at the Denver airport on May 9: “She had her fur and her sunglasses on, her hand on her luggage,” Mx.

Jae said. After a flirtatious weekend they kept talking by phone, and on a Memorial Day visit Ms. Lias accepted a folded note that read, “Will you be my girlfriend? Yes or no,” circling “yes.” They spoke about marriage the same month they became a couple. “We’re in our 40s,” Ms.

Lias said. “There’s no need to drag any of this out.” On Aug. 7, while Ms. Lias was visiting Denver, she wrote “Will you marry me? Yes or no” on a glass board at Mx. Jae’s house; Mx. Jae walked past it at first, then put their glasses on and began to cry before saying yes.

United States, Denver

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