Jerald Jerard Creer and Kent Michael Williams chalk up the almost 15-year delay in becoming a couple to a struggle to communicate — one that had nothing to do with Mr. Creer’s Deafness. Since June 2009, when the two met on a Carnival cruise ship, Mr. Williams had been texting Mr. Creer every few weeks asking for dates. Mr. Creer routinely turned him down. For years, Mr. Williams assumed it was because of his age. “Jerald told me when we met I was too young for him,” Mr. Williams said (Mr. Creer is seven years older). The friendship that Mr. Williams, now 42, and Mr. Creer, 49, struck up while sailing from Miami to the Bahamas had obstacles from the start. Mr. Williams, an engineer at Cox Communications then living in Baltimore, was traveling alone. Mr. Creer, a social worker, teacher for deaf people and actor then living in Suitland, Md., was vacationing with his boyfriend. Both were part of a group of L.G.B.T.Q. people of color vacationing together. Mr. Williams remembered seeing Mr. Creer outside the ship’s nightclub a day or two into the trip and feeling drawn to him. “He’s fine,” he recalled thinking. But he didn’t know Mr. Creer was Deaf, which resulted in a stilted conversation. Mr. Creer, who considers American Sign Language his first language, can read lips and make out sounds when wearing his hearing aids. But he struggles to decipher spoken words in dim lighting and loud environments. Mr. Williams, an engineer, is shy and introverted and was grappling with his sexuality at the time, later saying he had attempted to kill himself. Despite Creer’s efforts to avoid romantic relationships with younger men, they made it clear to each other that they found each other attractive and would keep in touch. They would meet up in person occasionally, but Mr. Creer would always decline his invitations, saying he needed time to focus on his career. In 2023, Mr. Williams planned to celebrate a friend’s birthday in Manhattan and asked Mr. Creer to meet him there, not realizing that New York is one of Mr. Creer’s favorite cities. Mr. Creer surprised him with a yes, and they spent the night playing a conversational card game, answering questions like what they were hesitating to tell each other and what they were afraid of. It was then that they fell in love. Two weeks later, Mr. Creer proposed to Mr. Williams in London. Mr. Williams said yes, and they were married in February 2025, with 115 guests attending their wedding in Roswell, Ga.
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