One year ago today, I stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court and joined thousands of marriage equality supporters in congratulating our plaintiffs, Paul & Jeff and Kris & Sandy, for their victory in restoring the freedom to marry in California.

Just minutes before that, Edie Windsor became a national hero by ensuring that all loving married same-sex couples across the nation are treated equally and with dignity under federal law.

Take a look back at that exciting day:

Along with the hard work of numerous organizations fighting for marriage equality, we have succeeded in changing the national landscape. An overwhelming majority of Americans support full federal marriage equality, and in the past year over twenty pro-equality rulings have been handed down by courts across the country. The momentum is undeniable.

Though today is a momentous day, we still have much work to accomplish. Thirty states still deny loving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. Over eighty federal and state lawsuits have been filed to strike down those discriminatory laws. AFER’s work continues in Virginia with Bostic v. Schaefer.

Our incomparable legal team, led by Ted Olson and David Boies, delivered a decisive victory to our plaintiffs, Tim & Tony and Mary & Carol, at district court. Appealed by the defendants to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, our case is fully briefed, and a decision is expected any day.

Our plaintiffs — and all Virginians and Americans alike — deserve their fundamental right to marry the person whom they love. Pledge your support today by donating to AFER so that we can continue our work in the fight for full federal marriage equality.

It is because of your support that thousands of gay and lesbian couples in California can now can enjoy their basic human right of marriage. All Virginians deserve the same. Your tax-deducitble donation today will ensure that one day soon, all Americans — from Richmond to Los Angeles or Raleigh to Little Rock — can finally have their freedom to marry affirmed.

Sincerely,

Adam D. Umhoefer
Executive Director
American Foundation for Equal Rights

P.S. Sign up for breaking news alerts for our Bostic case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The answer is simple: How could we not?

Because for all the progress we’ve seen, so much remains the same. Loving couples in states like Virginia are still told they are nothing more than legal strangers, despite spending years building a life together. LGBT youth across the country still grow up with stigma, waking up every day afraid of who they are. The children of gay and lesbian couples are left vulnerable, unable to enjoy the security that comes with knowing their parents are legally married.

Watch and share this video of our attorneys and new plaintiffs talking about what our new case could mean for them, their state, and our country.

We have accomplished so much together, but this is just the start. Will you support our work to achieve marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans?

Until all couples are able to build their lives together—until youth know that no matter whom they love, they are full and equal citizens in our country—until all children have the protections they are guaranteed—until we achieve equality, our work continues.

“Equal feels good.”

That’s what our plaintiff Jeff Zarrillo said moments after he was pronounced legally married to the love of his life, Paul Katami. 

From our stirring victory at the U.S. Supreme Court to the emotional day when our plaintiffs were finally married, we’ve put together a great video about what it was like when marriage equality returned to California.

Four years ago, AFER set out to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court because the Constitution guarantees every American the equal right to marry the person they love. Now, the discrimination imposed by Prop. 8 is gone for good and gay and lesbian couples are once again able to get married in California. This time, though, there is nothing anyone can do to take it away.

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples have fulfilled their dream of getting married. By exchanging vows, they are committing their lives to one another and are forever transformed by taking part in a sacred bond, one that is fully recognized by the State of California and the federal government. 

Because of our work together, nearly 95 million Americans, or 30% of the country, now live in a state with marriage equality. And, most of all, our nation has taken giant leap forward to fulfilling its promise of equality for all.

…Gays Deserve Equal Rights

States shouldn’t remain free to discriminate for as long as they wish.

By THEODORE B. OLSON And DAVID BOIES

Four years ago, the two us of joined forces and launched a federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which eliminated the right of same-sex couples in California to marry. Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear argument in that case. The central question is whether a state may exclude gay and lesbian Americans from what the Supreme Court has called “the most important relation in life”—the institution of marriage. The answer is no.

We represent two loving and committed couples. In many ways, our clients’ relationships are indistinguishable from our own: They have lives and homes together, they are raising children, they have jobs, they pay bills, they run errands. They experience together many of the joys and sorrows and laughter of life as a family in America.

But California has locked them out of the institution of marriage because they are gay. As the official voter guide expressly stated in 2008, Proposition 8 was enacted to communicate, with the force of law, that gay and lesbian relationships are not “okay.” This sent the unmistakable message that such relationships are unworthy of the respect, dignity and status that society accords to marriages—a status even our opponents describe as “indispensable to the integrity of the individual.”

When we filed this case in 2009, some suggested that the American people were not ready to embrace gay men and lesbians as equals with respect to the right of marriage. People spoke of the potential of a Roe v. Wade backlash, or even a culture war, if the courts ruled in favor of ending this harsh, unnecessary and demeaning form of discrimination.

This never made sense because, while Roe was perceived as creating a new constitutional right out of whole cloth, the Supreme Court has recognized at least 14 times that marriage is a fundamental right of all individuals.

In any event, public opinion has since shifted dramatically in favor of marriage equality. This month, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 58% of Americans favor marriage equality, compared with just 36% against. The same poll found an astonishing 81% of adults under 30 in favor of marriage equality. That poll came on the heels of a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of marriage equality filed by more than 100 prominent Republicans.

As a result, our opponents have shifted gears. They argue that the growing support for marriage equality means that the courts should leave to the states whether to permit marriage equality sometime in the indefinite future.

But as we proved during a 12-day trial that we won in a California federal district court in 2010, laws like Proposition 8 cause devastating harm to gay and lesbian couples and their children. Exclusion from the institution of marriage marks those couples and their children with a badge of inferiority. The damage this does to their hearts and minds is immeasurable—and the damage it does to all of us and our belief in the nation’s ideal of equality is incalculable.

For one to say that the Supreme Court should leave the question of marriage equality to the political processes of the states is to say that states should remain free to discriminate—to impose this pain and humiliation on gay men and lesbians and their children—for as long as they wish, without justification. The Constitution forbids such an indecent result. It did not tolerate it in separate schools and drinking fountains, it did not tolerate it with respect to bans on interracial marriage, and it does not tolerate it here.

Because of their sexual orientation—a characteristic with which they were born and which they cannot change—our clients and hundreds of thousands of gay men and lesbians in California and across the country are being excluded from one of life’s most precious relationships.

Opening to them participation in the unique and immensely valuable institution of marriage will not diminish the value or status of marriage for heterosexuals, but withholding marriage causes infinite and permanent stigma, pain and isolation. It denies gay men and lesbians their identity and their dignity; it labels their families as second-rate.

That outcome cannot be squared with the principle of equality and the unalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that is the bedrock promise of America from the Declaration of Independence to the 14th Amendment, and the dream of all Americans. This badge of inequality must be extinguished.

 

Making AFER’s case for full marriage equality are two of the country’s best attorneys, Ted Olson and David Boies.

Next week they will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that our Constitution guarantees EVERY American the freedom to marry the person they love. You can help their efforts right now by making a donation.

Ted, a conservative, and David, a liberal, were once legal adversaries. They famously faced-off against each other in Bush v. Gore. Since AFER brought them together in 2009 to lead our federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8, they have shown the nation that marriage equality is basic American value that transcends partisanship.

But their importance to our case goes far beyond their politics. Ted and David are widely regarded as two of the best attorneys in the country and have argued over 60 cases combined at the Supreme Court.

Since day one, Ted and David have methodically and eloquently argued our case for marriage equality. They represent two couples, Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who, like so many Americans, want to partake in the special bond of marriage. Because of their hard work, we have amassed an incredible trial record and received two historic federal court rulings that definitively show that Prop. 8 cannot be squared with the principles of liberty and equality upon which this nation was founded.

Right now Ted and David are preparing for the most important moment in the history of marriage equality to date and they need your support. Will you chip in $5, $25, $50 or more to show your appreciation for our legal team?

I’m proud to have Ted and David on our side, arguing our case at the Supreme Court, and I know they will do an outstanding job next Tuesday.

Today, the United States Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry, AFER’s federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8, on Tuesday, March 26. The following day the Court will hear oral argument in United States v. Windsor, the ACLU’s case challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

AFER’s legal team, led by distinguished co-counsel Ted Olson and David Boies, will once again argue that Prop. 8 violates United States Constitution. Our Constitution guarantees loving couples like AFER’s plaintiffs, Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, nothing less than full federal marriage equality. Prop. 8, DOMA and laws like them harm countless gay and lesbian Americans, singling them out for unequal, second-class treatment under the law.

Combined, Ted Olson and David Boies have argued over 70 cases in the Supreme Court. They won in Federal District Court, they won at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and they will win again at the Supreme Court.

Media Highlights

Public Reaction

The moment we have been fighting for has finally arrived. The U.S. Supreme Court just announced that they will hear our federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8.

This news is monumental. Now, more than ever, we need your help.

AFER’s legal team, led by distinguished co-counsel Ted Olson and David Boies, will now submit written briefs and present oral argument by April 2013. They successfully argued our case in Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, showing that Prop. 8 violates basic constitutional principles. And now they will defend those victories before the highest court in the nation.

Will you stand up and let your voice be heard with a gift that declares your support for the freedom to marry? Help us reach our fundraising goal of $50,000.

Your contribution is tax-deductible and will help AFER’s legal team in their efforts to strike down Prop. 8 and secure marriage equality for all Americans.

AFER brought this federal constitutional challenge to Prop. 8 because denying gay and lesbian Americans the fundamental right to marry is unfair, unlawful and contrary to basic American values. We have shown the nation that marriage is a fundamental freedom, and that all Americans should be afforded the same fundamental rights, regardless of how they are born and who they choose to love.

We could not have gotten to this point without the financial backing of donors and the everyday actions of our supporters.

And with your support today, loving couples like our plaintiffs, Kris & Sandy and Paul & Jeff, will soon be able to say “I Do.”