By Sandy Stier–
Ten years ago, my wife Kris and I stood on the plaza of the Supreme Court of the United States beaming as we heard the ruling that brought marriage equality to all of the United States. It was also the second anniversary of our legal marriage, which we had fought for in that same court just two years earlier.
Places have a special meaning to us: a school, a home, a ballpark. For us, it was SCOTUS. It was that glistening marble court where we witnessed the ruling that invalidated the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry on the same sunny June day in 2013, ensuring that our family had the same legal rights and protections as all California families. And it was that court that ruled 5–4 on Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, establishing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage across all of the United States.
The path to marriage equality was not straightforward or simple. There were detours and dissent, fierce commitment and radical bravery. It was hard-fought and hard-won, and it took everyone to succeed. Here we are, a decade later and a decade older, and very attached to our rights and our spouses.
We all see what is happening to civil rights in this country, as the current administration continues to degrade and debase LGBTQ+ people, women, immigrants, and other vulnerable members of society. The fight of each of us is the fight of all of us. When we see ourselves in each other, we fight with love. We are so much stronger together. We are who we’ve been waiting for.
On this 10-year anniversary of marriage equality, we toast to what we have and what we will fight to keep! Happy gay marriage anniversary, and happy Pride!
Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, together since 1997, were plaintiffs in the landmark cases Perry v. Schwarzenegger and Hollingsworth v. Perry that helped secure marriage equality in California and were influential in the fight for nationwide same-sex marriage rights. Learn more about them, along with another couple who were plaintiffs in California, at http://afer.org/about/plaintiffs/
Published on June 26, 2025
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