Queerty reached out to Richie Cohen, 59, and Duane Tragis, 60, to find out more. Our first question: When and where did they meet?“We met at Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ in October 1981 after silently flirting for two months across opposite ends of a crowded art history lecture hall,” says Richie.“We were 18 and 19 years old.
Little by little, during those two months, Duane moved his seat closer and closer until finally one day, he sat right next to me.
And the first thing I said to him was, ‘I love you!’ I didn’t mean to blurt that out, but I meant it. I’d had two months to think about it.”“When you’ve had a crush on someone for two months and the first words you hear from them are “I love you,” that is a huge ego boost for a Leo,” says Duane. “But I loved him, too.”A post shared by Richie and Duane (@richie_and_duane)“We were each other’s first boyfriend, lost our virginity together, and got married after a couple months,” says Richie. “We naively went to apply for a marriage license but they laughed at us, convinced it was a fraternity prank.
We were angered and determined, not discouraged, so we decided to just get married on our own with smiley face rings from a gumball machine.”The two men were also fond of taking photos.