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.

I stood on the marble steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, excited about what was about to transpire and hopeful about what we would accomplish. We had filed our case against California’s Prop. 8 four years earlier, and making our case before the nation’s highest court was the culmination of our work to that point.

Here’s what it was like that fateful day:

The result of our case for marriage equality affirmed what we knew to be true. In the court of law, where facts and truth are all that matter, there is no defense for denying gay and lesbian Americans the freedom to marry the person they love.

Because of AFER’s case, marriage equality returned to the nation’s most populous state.

The case also helped transform the way our country thinks, feels and talks about marriage equality. Public support nationwide has skyrocketed from 42 percent when we filed the case to an impressive 59 percent today. The Obama Administration, 131 prominent Republicans, over 100 major corporations, and thensome joined in support of our case. Marriage for gay and lesbian couples is no longer seen as a partisan issue; it’s a constitutional right that should not be denied any American.

Now, there is marriage equality or an active court case for marriage equality in all but five states.  For AFER, our work continues in the state that was once home to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and the home of the landmark case that put an end to bans on interracial marriage, Loving v. Virginia.

Battles are won because we fight them. Together, we made our case for marriage equality to the Supreme Court one year ago. Soon, we’ll return to those marble steps, excited about what will transpire and hopeful about what we will accomplish: full marriage equality in all 50 states.

Sincerely,

Adam D. Umhoefer

Executive Director
American Foundation for Equal Rights

Here’s what happened:

The poster was released, and it’s awesome.

The premiere received a sustained standing ovation.

Standing ovation through the credits! Congrats to everyone for a fantastic premiere #SayIDo pic.twitter.com/xtqr5CIho0

— TheCaseAgainst8 (@TheCaseAgainst8) January 18, 2014

Just saw The Case Against 8 @sundancefest, one of the greatest most emotional docs I’ve ever seen. Thank you @Jzpk4equality #ILoveTedOlson

— Morgan Spurlock (@MorganSpurlock) January 18, 2014

Something I’ve never seen before– standing ovation for the full credits of The Case Against 8. Amazing film. #Sundance

— Amy Letourneau (@amylet) January 18, 2014

The filmmakers, the lawyers, the defendants — audience is giving a lot of love to the CASE AGAINST 8 folks. #Sundance #HBO #AFER

— Alonso Duralde (@ADuralde) January 18, 2014

Cold compress on my eyes after seeing @TheCaseAgainst8 Emotional journey of a film and worth every step. #sundance #afer #equalrights

— Patrick Connolly (@PJConnolly) January 18, 2014

BuzzFeed added it to its list of “21 Sundance Movies You Need To Know About”

The Hollywood Reporter had this to say:

And it took home one of the festival’s top prizes, for best directing of a documentary.

This weekend, “The Case Against 8,” a behind-the-scenes look at the American Foundation for Equal Rights’ federal court challenge to California’s Proposition 8, will premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  The full-length documentary follows the case against Proposition 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry, through every level of federal court, documenting all the significant milestones in the historic case that returned marriage equality to California.

Directed by Ben Cotner and Ryan White, “The Case Against 8” is one of only 16 documentaries selected for the prestigious film festival.

“Since the very beginning, we wanted the story of our plaintiffs to be told.  ‘The Case Against 8,’ with its incredible behind-the-scenes access to the first marriage equality case to reach the Supreme Court, serves as another vehicle to show the world that there is no good reason to deny loving couples their fundamental right to marry the person they love,” said Adam Umhoefer, AFER’s executive director.

Shot over the course of almost five years, the film follows AFER’s plaintiffs, Kris Perry & Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, and the bipartisan legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies, who came together to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court through Hollingsworth v. Perry.

“We are thrilled that ‘The Case Against 8’ is reaching the big screen,” said Perry. “Sandy and I spent years in front of Ben and Ryan’s cameras, and they captured some of the most suspenseful and exciting moments of our lives. We look forward to being able to share our journey with the public and give hope to young gay Americans, especially those living in states where marriage equality is not recognized, that justice and equality will prevail.”

“This is a story that hits close to home for us, but it is also the story of the tremendous work done by our legal team and the incredible support that we received from thousands of Americans who believe that the freedom to marry is a fundamental right,” added Katami.  “We look forward to seeing ‘The Case Against 8’ on the big screen and looking back at what was an incredible journey.”

Watch a short interview with the filmmakers:

HBO featured the behind-the-scenes documentary in a 2013 review/2014 preview teaser promoting this year’s lineup of returning shows, new shows and feature films.

The Case Against 8, a full-length documentary about AFER’s Prop. 8 case directed by Ben Cotner and Ryan White, will premiere as an official selection at Sundance Film Festival on January 18 and on HBO this summer.

The two couples who challenged Proposition 8 in federal court with AFER were voted “Californians of the Year” by KPCC listeners. Other nominees included Governor Jerry Brown, University of California President Janet Napolitano, Space X and Tesla founder Elon Musk, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and others.

KPCC notes:

Back in 2009 when Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo joined Sandy Stier and Kris Perry to challenge the constitutionality of Proposition 8, they became the face of the fight for marriage equality in California and across the nation.

It took four years of legal back and forth but the couples fighting against Prop 8 finally won in June when the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. Two days later, Katami and Zarrillo rushed to city hall to be married by then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. [Perry and Stier were married moments earlier at San Francisco City Hall by Attorney General Kamala Harris.]

The two couples became the face of a movement and – together with a formidable legal team – brought down Prop 8, putting them at the top of the list for Californians of the Year!

Paul and Jeff talked about the honor with Air Talk host Larry Mantle. Listen >

More

• Photos from the First Day of Marriage Equality  in California
• U.S. Supreme Court Victory Paves the Way for Marriage Equality in California

The Sundance Film Festival announced today that it will feature “The Case Against 8,” a behind-the-scenes look at the AFER’s federal court challenge for marriage equality, the first of its kind to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The full-length documentary directed by Ben Cotner and Ryan White is one of only 16 documentaries selected for the prestigious film festival in January 2014.

Shot over the course of five years, the film follows AFER’s plaintiffs, Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, and attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies who came together to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court.

The case resulted in a landmark trial that became and truth commission on marriage equality, a historic 136-page decision that found Prop. 8 unconstitutional, and the restoration of marriage equality in California.

Between June 16 and November 4, 2008, an estimated 18,000 couples declared their love before their family and friends in the Golden State. The California Supreme Court had ruled that “equal respect and dignity” of marriage is a “basic civil right” that cannot be withheld from same-sex couples. At the time, the only other place gay and lesbian couples could get married in the U.S. was Massachusetts.

But hanging above that joyous time was a dark cloud known as Proposition 8. On November 4, 2008, a narrow majority of voters approved a 14-word constitutional amendment that took away the freedom to marry from gay and lesbian couples in the state.

In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of people came together. Night after night, they took to the streets to express their disappointment, their anger, and their resolve to secure a nation where who you love does not determine what rights you have.

In the months after Prop. 8 passed, the American Foundation for Equal Rights was founded to take on a daring and bold task: a federal court case arguing that California’s marriage ban was in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. We brought together Ted Olson and David Boies, former adversaries in Bush v. Gore, to lead our legal team. We took Prop. 8 to trial and proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that gay and lesbian couples are harmed by not being able to marry, that their children unjustly suffer in the shadow of that discrimination.  We showed that there is no reason to prevent the state from recognizing the freedom to marry for all, and that the right to marry is a fundamental right that should not be denied to anyone based on who they love.

We took our case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and today, Prop. 8 is gone. Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in the Golden State.

The spark of Prop. 8 ignited a firestorm of change in the past five years.

Then, gay and lesbian couples could only get married in one state. Today, 33 percent of the nation lives in a state with marriage equality. Gay and lesbian Americans can get married in one of 14 states—including California—and our nation’s capital. And importantly, their marriage is recognized by the federal government. Then, only 40 percent of the nation thought it was okay for gay and lesbian Americans to get married. Today, poll after poll shows that a solid majority—as much as 58 percent of the nation—supports marriage for all.

But where you live, should not determine who you are able to marry. That is why AFER’s work in federal court continues in Virginia, a state with some of the harshest marriage discrimination laws in the nation. With briefing now complete in the state’s first marriage equality case, we are waiting for a hearing date.

Until every American is able to marry the person he or she loves, our work for full equality continues.

In the first full month gay and lesbian couples could get married in California since our Supreme Court victory, the number of marriage licenses issued increased dramatically in most of California’s 58 counties.

Increases were especially high in romantic wedding destinations—such as the coastal counties of Santa Cruz (118%), Monterey (42%) and Ventura (42%), the Bay Area (Alameda, 52%, Marin, 86%, San Mateo, 46%), and wine country (Napa, 44%, Sonoma, 52%)—but also in more rural and historically conservative areas such as Amador (7)%), Colusa (167%), Nevada (46%), Riverside (62%), and San Bernardino (41%) counties.

The state does not track the demographic information of people applying for marriage licenses, including gender, but it’s safe to say that a large part of the surge is due to the large number of gay and lesbian couples in the state who were waiting to tie the knot. Couples have 90 days to get married after they obtain a marriage license.

AFER collected the unofficial data from 50 of California’s 58 counties. Official data is expected later this year.

The UCLA Williams Institute estimated in 2008 that allowing gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry would boost the state and local economy by $63.8 million over three years.

If you’ve gotten married, or plan to, tell us your love story and visit our wedding resources.