Today, The Washington Post and Associated Press exposed Becker’s breaking story of how Ashley, the daughter of Prop.8 lawyer Chuck Cooper, came out to him midway through trial.

It had been midway through the case, during the interminable Ninth Circuit phase, when his wife confirmed what he had suspected for months. Debbie Cooper had known, even before her husband agreed to take the Proposition 8 case, that her daughter was a lesbian.

 Cooper, who had married Ashley’s mother when Ashley was just seven, accepted it without question.

’I know it’s not easy to talk about,’ Ashley recalled. ‘It’s not easy for anyone,’ he replied, ‘but I love you, and you love me, and that’s all that matters.’

Becker continues that Cooper often would reflect during trial on the strength of character and integrity of the plaintiffs fighting against Prop. 8

Ashley commented that she “sometimes wonder[s] if what made him so amazing to come out to was the experience of being part of that trial.”

Asked whether he now supports marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans, Cooper responds:

‘My views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people’s do, and how I view this down the road may not be the way I view it now, or how I viewed it ten years ago.’

AFER Executive Director Adam Umhoefer acknowledged Cooper’s love and support for his family: “Chuck Cooper’s unwavering support for his daughter stands testament to the fact that every child deserves to be embraced by their parents and community as well as their government. Achieving full federal equality for all Americans will help realize that goal.”

Ashley is engaged to her fiancé, Casey, and will be married this summer.

Click here for more information on Forcing the Spring.

Publishers Weekly calls it

Kirkus Reviews praises it as a “gripping narrative” in which “first-rate reporting informs this thrilling narrative.”

Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality has been receiving praise in anticipation of its April 22 release. The book is an insider account of AFER’s case against Proposition 8, written by Jo Becker, Pulitzer-Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times:..

Beginning with private conversations among friends and moving all the way to the Supreme Court, Becker constructs the legal story with the privilege of generous access to the plaintiffs and legal team that fought for marriage equality…Becker navigates the vast amount of legal history, backroom conversations, media wrangling, and personal stories with an ease that makes what could otherwise be a demanding or partisan story into learned political journalism. – Publishers Weekly

AFER granted Becker unprecedented behind-the-scenes access as it sought to restore marriage equality in the nation’s most populous state. Her account follows all the players in this historic victory including President Barack Obama, AFER Co-Founding Board Members Chad Griffin, Rob Reiner and Dustin Lance Black,  among others.

Jeffrey Toobin praises Forcing the Spring as a “superb behind-the-scenes.” Former NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous calls it “the definitive insider account of one of the greatest civil rights struggles of our times.”

Jo Becker has taught investigative journalism at Princeton University and her work has earned numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize for a Washington Post series she co-authored on Vice President Dick Cheney.

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