Whirlwind of Marriage Equality Activities
Friday, June 26, 2015, a day for the history books!
Thanks SCOTUS ... well, at least the five Supreme Court justices who affirmed the rights of everyone in this country to marry who they love! (Some of us had been left out.)
My wife, Sharon, and I had just sat down in her office for a business meeting when we received a phone call from a friend in Mississippi who wanted to share the good news. You know the good news ... like THE GOOD NEWS ... yes, THE BEST NEWS of our lifetime.
Wow!!! Chills and tears and hugs and screams of joy filled the room.
Even though we knew the decision was likely to come down Thursday, Friday or Monday, and even though we were 99 percent sure the decision would go our way, waves of joy swept over us and over us and over us again. Cry, hug, scream, hug, jump up and down.
Up until a few years ago, both of us would have sworn we would not live long enough to see legal gay marriages in Georgia or Mississippi, our home states.
Prepping for Events on the Historic Day
Rush, rush, rush ... get all the cameras ... make sure the batteries are charged ... grab flash cards ... find out what is happening where. Oh, and grab cashews and water and ice and more water and more ice and ibuprofen. And an ice bucket with more ice and a towel to soak in cold water.
Oh, and my minister's stole ... just in case someone needs a minister to marry them. :)
Don't ya love it when you can take something created by the other side and subvert it to your uses?
Our first destination was midtown--10th and Monroe, where everyone celebrated after the DOMA decision two years ago. When we arrived about 20 people were celebrating, so we took a few photographs and moved on. (Obviously most people were still at work and the crowd at that corner would build as the day went on ... too bad we couldn't be in two places at once.)
We decided to head to the Fulton County Courthouse next, where marriage licenses were being issued to same-sex couples.
Laura and Cath anxiously wait in line to apply for a marriage license.
And what a scene we found at the courthouse. Lots of excited couples overwhelmed with joy. I followed Laura and Cath into the marriage license office where I was able to document the application process.
And then I headed across the street to the Fulton County Government Building where judges were marrying couples one right after the other.
Couple number one at the mass wedding ceremony.
After photographing at the courthouse, we headed home to get retrieve our Indigo Girls ticket and then made our way to the Center for Civil and Human Rights, where we found Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality leading a rally.
Thanks, Jeff, for all of your amazing work through the years. We know there is more work to be done, but let's take a little while to celebrate this major victory!
We marched with the marchers from the rally for a few blocks and then headed to Chastain Park for the ending to a perfect day.
More photos from this historic day to come.
Looking for a wedding photographer for your same-sex wedding, check out our guide to choosing one who will celebrate with you.
Cindy and Sharon