Fresh off a flight from Washington D.C.: the plaintiffs, lawyers, and activists from the Prop. 8 Supreme Court case address a joyous crowd in West Hollywood.
Jeff & Paul
"It's not every day you get a marriage proposal on national TV and then get a phone call from Air Force One," Jeff Zarrillo told a three hundred person crowd of cheering and tearful supporters gathered to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8. Zarrillo along with his partner, Paul Kamati, were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that brought down the California ban on same-sex marriage. President Obama called to congratulate the couple after the ruling was announced. Kamati told the President near the end of the call: "You're invited to the wedding."
Zarrillo said the two plan to celebrate by "snuggling up with our doggies" inside their home in Burbank, California.
Kris & Sandy
"Love prevailed today," Kris Perry pridefully told the crowd of revelers. Perry and her partner, Sandy Stier, were also plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Prop. 8. Perry grew up a "tomboy" in Bakersfield, a rural farming town, in central California, surrounded by people "who voted differently" than her parents. During her testimony against Prop. 8 in 2010, Perry told Federal District Court judge:
"I have never really let myself want [to get married] until now. Growing up as a lesbian, you don't let yourself want it, because everyone tells you you are never going to have it."
Perry and Stier met in their late 30's and were married in San Francisco in 2004 but the two were denied a marriage license in 2009 after Proposition 8 passed in California. The couple thanked their four sons from the stage. Stier, joyfully asked the crowd, "Do women rock or do women rock?!"
"I'm Dustin Lance Black and I'm here to recruit you!"
Channeling legendary gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black opened the evening's ceremony with a rallying introduction, "My name is Dustin Lance Black and I'm here to recruit you!" Black encouraged celebrating activists to take the "good feelings" of the day's triumph and use them to fight anti-marriage equality laws in states like Texas, Virginia and Pennsylvania. "We need to ask for more than crumbs," Black said, referencing Harvey Milk's axiom: "If they give you a crumb, they can take that crumb away. But if they give you freedom, it's pretty hard to take that away."
To watch Black's play "8" about the legal case brought against Prop 8 click here.
Just married...again!
Deirdra and Nancy have been together for over 15 years. They spent the morning texting their grown children about the impending Supreme Court decision then came to a popular gay bar and restaurant in West Hollywood, the Abbey, to watch the results. The two were married in Los Angeles in 2005 after the California legislature approved a measure to legalize same sex marriage, though their marriage was not recognized in other states. "We're just overwhelmed and grateful," Nancy said, pulling her arm tightly around her wife."We hope this sweeps the country."
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