1 00:00:09,676 --> 00:00:13,846 [atmospheric music] 2 00:00:13,930 --> 00:00:18,140 [Jones] In my life, when it comes to the 14th Amendment, 3 00:00:18,226 --> 00:00:23,476 there's probably no more central moment than the case of Loving versus Virginia. 4 00:00:23,565 --> 00:00:25,355 Hi, I'm Martha Jones, 5 00:00:25,900 --> 00:00:28,320 Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. 6 00:00:29,529 --> 00:00:32,199 In 1967, in 18 states 7 00:00:32,282 --> 00:00:38,462 the marriages between white and people said to be not white weren't recognized. 8 00:00:38,538 --> 00:00:40,288 Loving versus Virginia 9 00:00:40,373 --> 00:00:43,173 is that moment when the US Supreme Court 10 00:00:43,251 --> 00:00:48,091 finally strikes down what we term anti-miscegenation laws. 11 00:00:52,135 --> 00:00:52,965 But… 12 00:00:53,553 --> 00:00:59,433 um, my parents were married in 1957, ten years earlier. 13 00:01:01,061 --> 00:01:03,521 My mother, a white American woman, 14 00:01:03,605 --> 00:01:06,435 my father, an African American man. 15 00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:09,570 They couldn't be married in his home state. 16 00:01:09,652 --> 00:01:11,652 They were married in New York. 17 00:01:12,530 --> 00:01:15,490 They were reviled and ridiculed. 18 00:01:16,618 --> 00:01:20,288 We, their children, were branded… [sighs] 19 00:01:20,371 --> 00:01:22,831 …"unfortunates," and worse. 20 00:01:23,958 --> 00:01:27,298 I am a child of Loving versus Virginia, 21 00:01:27,378 --> 00:01:28,628 which is to say… 22 00:01:30,090 --> 00:01:32,510 that as I try and make s… 23 00:01:33,093 --> 00:01:35,473 [voice breaks] sense of my own life… 24 00:01:35,553 --> 00:01:37,393 [tuts] Shoot. 25 00:01:38,223 --> 00:01:40,313 You told me this was gonna happen. 26 00:01:46,856 --> 00:01:47,936 [quietly] One sec. 27 00:01:51,528 --> 00:01:54,908 Um, Loving we owe to the 14th Amendment. 28 00:01:55,573 --> 00:01:57,203 It's the Equal Protection Clause 29 00:01:57,283 --> 00:02:00,123 that is going to expressly be the vehicle 30 00:02:00,203 --> 00:02:03,373 for talking about inequality before the law. 31 00:02:03,456 --> 00:02:06,746 The case lends my family a kind of… 32 00:02:08,044 --> 00:02:09,004 legitimacy. 33 00:02:12,507 --> 00:02:14,967 So, when I think about my own story, 34 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,430 I think about the folks who waged those tireless 35 00:02:19,514 --> 00:02:22,064 and oftentimes thankless campaigns 36 00:02:22,142 --> 00:02:24,812 to breathe into the Constitution 37 00:02:24,894 --> 00:02:29,694 some kind of meaning that helps to make my life make sense. 38 00:02:32,610 --> 00:02:33,610 That's my story. 39 00:02:33,695 --> 00:02:35,695 ["Have Some Love" by Childish Gambino playing] 40 00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:39,280 ♪ Have a word for your brother ♪ 41 00:02:39,367 --> 00:02:42,287 ♪ Have some time for one another… ♪ 42 00:02:42,370 --> 00:02:44,080 [narrator] We are gathered here today 43 00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:47,464 to celebrate the marriage of the 14th Amendment… 44 00:02:48,084 --> 00:02:49,844 and marriage. 45 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:54,089 Now, marriage is a symbol of your love, your commitment, 46 00:02:54,174 --> 00:02:55,384 and it's a legal bond. 47 00:02:55,466 --> 00:02:59,846 The government believes that marriage is so essential to our society 48 00:02:59,929 --> 00:03:03,729 that it gives married couples benefits and legal protections 49 00:03:03,808 --> 00:03:05,348 that keep families whole. 50 00:03:06,895 --> 00:03:08,265 Now, you might not know it, 51 00:03:08,855 --> 00:03:12,525 but marriage and the 14th have a long history together. 52 00:03:13,276 --> 00:03:14,566 Before the Civil War, 53 00:03:14,652 --> 00:03:17,912 enslaved people had no legal right to marry. 54 00:03:17,989 --> 00:03:21,199 Without that legal recognition, they could be ripped apart 55 00:03:21,284 --> 00:03:23,754 from their spouses and children at any time. 56 00:03:24,329 --> 00:03:27,999 Only after emancipation and with the protections of 14 57 00:03:28,082 --> 00:03:31,542 could formerly enslaved people finally legally marry. 58 00:03:31,628 --> 00:03:33,878 ["Unchained Melody" by Andy Williams playing] 59 00:03:33,963 --> 00:03:35,473 ♪ Oh, my love ♪ 60 00:03:36,549 --> 00:03:41,009 ♪ My darling, I've hungered… ♪ 61 00:03:41,095 --> 00:03:45,225 So, when same-sex marriage comes before the Court in 2015, 62 00:03:45,808 --> 00:03:47,388 it's not just about love. 63 00:03:47,477 --> 00:03:51,227 It's about being seen and accepted by the government 64 00:03:51,314 --> 00:03:54,284 as full and equal citizens. 65 00:03:54,859 --> 00:03:58,529 [man] The present laws give the choice of being heterosexual and legal 66 00:03:58,613 --> 00:04:00,823 or homosexual and illegal. 67 00:04:00,907 --> 00:04:04,907 [man 2] Do you remember how you felt when you first realized you were a homosexual? 68 00:04:04,994 --> 00:04:06,254 Frightened. 69 00:04:06,329 --> 00:04:07,999 I didn't want to be different. 70 00:04:09,290 --> 00:04:10,920 I didn't want to stand out. 71 00:04:12,001 --> 00:04:14,591 I wanted to have everything that everybody else had. 72 00:04:14,671 --> 00:04:18,341 ♪ …your love ♪ 73 00:04:20,426 --> 00:04:21,926 Nothing more and nothing less. 74 00:04:22,428 --> 00:04:26,058 ♪ …to me ♪ 75 00:04:31,479 --> 00:04:34,019 [bright music playing] 76 00:04:34,107 --> 00:04:38,737 I would say the first time I started to know that I was different 77 00:04:38,820 --> 00:04:41,570 was probably when I was eight or nine years old. 78 00:04:41,656 --> 00:04:46,656 I remember after the family was finished with the Sears or JCPenney catalogs, 79 00:04:46,744 --> 00:04:48,334 and they were thrown out, 80 00:04:48,413 --> 00:04:51,083 I would fish those catalogs out of the trash. 81 00:04:51,165 --> 00:04:54,875 And I did that because I wanted to cut out the pages of men's underwear. 82 00:04:55,461 --> 00:04:58,801 Now, I couldn't tell you why, I just knew I wanted those pages. 83 00:04:58,881 --> 00:05:00,881 They, they meant something to me. 84 00:05:01,426 --> 00:05:03,716 But I also realized that I felt… 85 00:05:04,679 --> 00:05:08,019 a sense of shame, like somehow I knew it was wrong to do that. 86 00:05:08,099 --> 00:05:11,139 And that sense of shame finally got the better of me 87 00:05:11,728 --> 00:05:15,728 and I actually burned those pictures in a coffee can in the basement. 88 00:05:17,233 --> 00:05:20,743 Starting in middle school, I sang in the choir, I did musicals, 89 00:05:20,820 --> 00:05:22,820 stereotypical gay things. 90 00:05:22,905 --> 00:05:24,695 I didn't play sports. 91 00:05:24,782 --> 00:05:28,042 Just one of those kids who checked a lot of those boxes 92 00:05:28,119 --> 00:05:30,159 of, "Oh, he must be gay." 93 00:05:30,663 --> 00:05:35,133 As I started to get older, the closet door creaked open a little bit, 94 00:05:35,209 --> 00:05:37,629 but I quickly slammed it shut 95 00:05:37,712 --> 00:05:41,302 because at that point I was still coming to terms with being gay. 96 00:05:46,721 --> 00:05:50,311 [woman] "The discovery of one's sexual preference doesn't have to be a trauma." 97 00:05:51,017 --> 00:05:54,477 "It's a trauma because it's such a traumatized society." 98 00:05:55,188 --> 00:05:58,108 [man] One never knows when the homosexual is about. 99 00:05:58,191 --> 00:05:59,611 He may appear normal, 100 00:05:59,692 --> 00:06:02,862 and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill. 101 00:06:02,945 --> 00:06:06,235 A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, 102 00:06:06,324 --> 00:06:08,664 but no less dangerous and contagious, 103 00:06:08,743 --> 00:06:10,413 a sickness of the mind. 104 00:06:11,287 --> 00:06:13,407 [Baldwin] If a man's sexuality is gone, 105 00:06:13,498 --> 00:06:16,628 then his possibility, his hope of loving is also gone. 106 00:06:17,210 --> 00:06:19,340 [as Baldwin] "The so-called straight person 107 00:06:19,420 --> 00:06:21,050 is no safer than I am, really." 108 00:06:21,130 --> 00:06:22,510 "Loving anybody, 109 00:06:22,590 --> 00:06:26,260 being loved by anybody, is a tremendous danger, 110 00:06:26,928 --> 00:06:28,468 a tremendous responsibility." 111 00:06:29,514 --> 00:06:32,644 [Baldwin] It's a journey which both people have got to make 112 00:06:33,351 --> 00:06:34,521 with each other. 113 00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:40,896 [Obergefell] The first time I met John was a couple months before I came out 114 00:06:40,983 --> 00:06:44,703 and he was so comfortable in his skin as an out gay man 115 00:06:44,779 --> 00:06:47,069 that it scared me. But I was still closeted, 116 00:06:47,156 --> 00:06:50,446 so that was one of those moments when you meet a friend's friend. 117 00:06:50,535 --> 00:06:52,535 We chatted for a bit and that was it. 118 00:06:52,620 --> 00:06:56,750 At that point, I just wasn't ready to admit to anyone else that I was gay. 119 00:06:57,333 --> 00:07:00,213 The second time John and I met, we started talking 120 00:07:00,294 --> 00:07:02,174 and at some point John said, 121 00:07:02,255 --> 00:07:05,085 "Well, Jim, you'd never go out with someone like me." 122 00:07:05,675 --> 00:07:09,755 And I still don't know where I had the wit or the courage 123 00:07:09,846 --> 00:07:11,346 to respond the way that I did, 124 00:07:11,431 --> 00:07:14,521 but I said, "Well, how do you know? You've never asked." 125 00:07:15,017 --> 00:07:16,137 But he didn't, 126 00:07:16,727 --> 00:07:18,227 so that was meeting number two. 127 00:07:18,980 --> 00:07:22,280 The third time, I was back in Cincinnati for the holidays 128 00:07:23,192 --> 00:07:25,652 and John was having a New Year's Eve party. 129 00:07:26,154 --> 00:07:28,164 So, I went to the party at John's house 130 00:07:28,239 --> 00:07:30,199 and we met for the third time 131 00:07:30,950 --> 00:07:32,030 and I never left. 132 00:07:34,078 --> 00:07:37,828 John and I would always joke that for us it wasn't love at first sight, 133 00:07:37,915 --> 00:07:39,995 it was love at third sight. [chuckles] 134 00:07:42,670 --> 00:07:46,220 And I met Jim and I really liked Jim, 135 00:07:46,924 --> 00:07:50,304 but the thing that made me love him the most 136 00:07:50,386 --> 00:07:53,716 was, in John's entire life, 137 00:07:53,806 --> 00:07:55,926 I had never seen him that happy. 138 00:07:56,017 --> 00:08:00,557 [Obergefell] It really was just a happy life of living in Cincinnati 139 00:08:00,646 --> 00:08:03,516 and just being a couple and making friends. 140 00:08:04,567 --> 00:08:05,737 Pretty darn boring! 141 00:08:10,698 --> 00:08:12,328 But at that point, 142 00:08:12,408 --> 00:08:15,908 Cincinnati was not a great place to be for the LGBTQ community, 143 00:08:15,995 --> 00:08:17,905 for any community that was different. 144 00:08:19,457 --> 00:08:21,787 [narrator] When it comes to LGBTQ rights, 145 00:08:21,876 --> 00:08:24,336 Cincinnati in the '80s and '90s is, 146 00:08:24,420 --> 00:08:26,630 a lot like Cincinnati in the '50s, 147 00:08:26,714 --> 00:08:30,344 or any other big city in the United States at that time. 148 00:08:30,426 --> 00:08:33,846 The message to its LGBTQ citizens is, 149 00:08:33,930 --> 00:08:34,970 be quiet, 150 00:08:35,556 --> 00:08:37,426 stay hidden or get out. 151 00:08:38,309 --> 00:08:42,559 -♪ America, you're at your best! ♪ -♪ America, you're at your best! ♪ 152 00:08:42,647 --> 00:08:46,187 ♪ America, you're at your best in Cincinnati! ♪ 153 00:08:47,401 --> 00:08:50,911 I've been telling law students who want to be civil rights lawyers 154 00:08:50,988 --> 00:08:52,068 for 40 years, 155 00:08:52,865 --> 00:08:54,325 "If you really want the work, 156 00:08:54,951 --> 00:08:56,201 go to the Midwest." 157 00:08:57,578 --> 00:09:01,248 When we moved to Cincinnati, it still had Klan rallies, 158 00:09:01,332 --> 00:09:03,582 burning a cross on Fountain Square. 159 00:09:03,668 --> 00:09:05,088 [reporter] A Cincinnati art gallery 160 00:09:05,169 --> 00:09:08,259 and its director went on trial in Cincinnati for obscenity. 161 00:09:08,339 --> 00:09:11,259 [Gerhardstein] The Mapplethorpe exhibit was an example 162 00:09:11,342 --> 00:09:14,142 of just where Cincinnati was at the time. 163 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:17,059 It was just too much for the city. 164 00:09:18,641 --> 00:09:21,561 We were in a very, very dark period. 165 00:09:21,644 --> 00:09:25,524 And I felt, as a budding civil rights lawyer, 166 00:09:25,606 --> 00:09:27,816 I had a huge amount of work to do. 167 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:32,860 I started representing low-income people with respect to public benefits. 168 00:09:32,947 --> 00:09:36,827 We did an employment project to try and help people get jobs. 169 00:09:36,909 --> 00:09:39,369 I wanted to make sure that the American Dream 170 00:09:39,453 --> 00:09:41,293 was available to everyone. 171 00:09:44,125 --> 00:09:48,245 After a few years, I began to meet person after person 172 00:09:48,337 --> 00:09:52,007 who was fired simply because they were gay. 173 00:09:52,842 --> 00:09:56,472 I brought one case after another, trying to figure out ways 174 00:09:56,554 --> 00:09:59,974 to get them equal protection under the existing law. 175 00:10:00,516 --> 00:10:02,176 I lost every one of those cases. 176 00:10:03,185 --> 00:10:06,475 So, we decided to start knocking on the door 177 00:10:06,564 --> 00:10:08,574 of the Cincinnati City Council. 178 00:10:09,108 --> 00:10:11,148 We brought all these clients in 179 00:10:11,235 --> 00:10:13,815 and they explained what it felt like to be fired 180 00:10:13,904 --> 00:10:15,494 for a status you had no power over, 181 00:10:16,616 --> 00:10:21,696 and we were able to convince the council to pass a human rights ordinance. 182 00:10:22,288 --> 00:10:23,368 This was huge. 183 00:10:23,456 --> 00:10:26,536 You can't fire somebody simply because they're gay. 184 00:10:27,126 --> 00:10:30,126 It was a great day and there was a lot of celebration. 185 00:10:30,713 --> 00:10:31,713 But… 186 00:10:31,797 --> 00:10:36,507 right there on the wings of our celebration 187 00:10:36,594 --> 00:10:41,564 was the dark cloud of Citizens for Community Values. 188 00:10:41,641 --> 00:10:46,691 The 1964 Civil Rights Act identified persons based on, you know, 189 00:10:46,771 --> 00:10:49,441 something you could see, something you could identify, 190 00:10:49,523 --> 00:10:50,483 not behavior. 191 00:10:50,566 --> 00:10:52,276 And for someone to come along 192 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:54,950 and claim minority status based on behavior, 193 00:10:55,780 --> 00:10:57,070 think what that would do. 194 00:10:57,156 --> 00:10:58,816 That just opens Pandora's Box. 195 00:10:58,908 --> 00:11:01,408 [Gerhardstein] These forces that were aligned against us 196 00:11:01,494 --> 00:11:05,754 proposed a charter amendment called Article 12. 197 00:11:07,333 --> 00:11:10,423 [reporter]The actual wording of the proposed amendment is as follows. 198 00:11:10,503 --> 00:11:13,593 "The City of Cincinnati may not enact any ordinance, 199 00:11:13,673 --> 00:11:15,683 regulation, rule or policy 200 00:11:15,758 --> 00:11:18,138 which provides that homosexual orientation 201 00:11:18,219 --> 00:11:19,719 provides a person with a basis 202 00:11:19,804 --> 00:11:22,104 to have any claim of preferential treatment." 203 00:11:23,391 --> 00:11:26,981 [Gerhardstein] Article 12 was passed by 64% of the vote 204 00:11:27,061 --> 00:11:30,561 and that repealed the Cincinnati Human Rights Ordinance 205 00:11:30,648 --> 00:11:36,318 and it barred the city from offering any protection of any kind 206 00:11:36,904 --> 00:11:40,704 for what they called homosexuals, bisexuals, 207 00:11:40,783 --> 00:11:43,953 uh, or lesbians forever. 208 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,170 [Obergefell] We officially became 209 00:11:48,249 --> 00:11:50,459 the most gay-unfriendly city in the nation. 210 00:11:51,377 --> 00:11:54,337 It was really devastating to have this pass 211 00:11:54,422 --> 00:11:56,422 and to know that our fellow citizens 212 00:11:56,507 --> 00:11:59,547 thought that we did not deserve protections of any sort. 213 00:11:59,635 --> 00:12:03,755 They're up in arms because they're not getting certain privileges and rights. 214 00:12:03,848 --> 00:12:07,688 There's something wrong. They're abnormal, and I don't think it's normal. 215 00:12:07,768 --> 00:12:11,938 [Obergefell] There was just a lot of anger and discrimination 216 00:12:12,022 --> 00:12:14,362 towards the LGBTQ community. 217 00:12:14,442 --> 00:12:18,902 It makes you sick and stuff saying, "He's gay," "She's a lesbian," and stuff. 218 00:12:18,988 --> 00:12:21,198 You know? It should be kept in your own home. 219 00:12:21,282 --> 00:12:22,122 Definitely. 220 00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:27,080 [Obergefell] In this environment, LGBTQ people were expected to be quiet 221 00:12:27,163 --> 00:12:30,293 and not raise a ruckus, and just fit in. 222 00:12:30,374 --> 00:12:34,004 If you look a certain way, if you act a certain way, 223 00:12:34,086 --> 00:12:35,336 you're okay. 224 00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:39,431 We were okay because we didn't wave our own personal Pride flag. 225 00:12:39,508 --> 00:12:45,138 We fit into what the people in Cincinnati expected from two Caucasian young men. 226 00:12:45,222 --> 00:12:48,772 It was a frightful time to be gay in that city. 227 00:12:50,478 --> 00:12:53,058 [Gerhardstein] We were the only city in America 228 00:12:53,147 --> 00:12:58,187 with a formal statement of hatred against gays. 229 00:12:58,778 --> 00:13:03,368 How can this be legal in America? 230 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,370 When we founded our government a second time, 231 00:13:08,037 --> 00:13:10,327 and that's what the 14th Amendment is, 232 00:13:10,915 --> 00:13:13,285 we said that all persons 233 00:13:13,375 --> 00:13:15,375 are entitled to equal protection 234 00:13:15,461 --> 00:13:16,631 under the law. 235 00:13:17,379 --> 00:13:23,929 So, we sued to challenge the constitutionality of Article 12. 236 00:13:25,095 --> 00:13:27,675 [news jingle] 237 00:13:29,183 --> 00:13:33,403 Good evening. The gay rights battle in Cincinnati didn't end on election day. 238 00:13:33,479 --> 00:13:36,609 [reporter] Legal experts think that this type of legislation 239 00:13:36,690 --> 00:13:39,820 may not stand up to the Constitutional test. 240 00:13:39,902 --> 00:13:43,112 But there's a huge challenge in this case 241 00:13:43,197 --> 00:13:45,157 that we haven't talked about yet. 242 00:13:45,658 --> 00:13:48,578 And that is that in 1986, 243 00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:53,831 the US Supreme Court had decided Bowers versus Hardwick. 244 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:57,250 [man] Mister Chief Justice, and may it please the Court, 245 00:13:57,336 --> 00:14:00,126 this case presents the question of whether or not 246 00:14:00,631 --> 00:14:02,011 there is a fundamental right 247 00:14:02,091 --> 00:14:05,761 to engage in consensual homosexual sodomy. 248 00:14:08,889 --> 00:14:13,269 [narrator] Are we really debating consensual sexual activity here? 249 00:14:13,352 --> 00:14:15,982 I'm just saying, if somebody tried to tell you 250 00:14:16,063 --> 00:14:19,733 that what you and your partner do in your bedroom is illegal, 251 00:14:20,234 --> 00:14:23,534 I mean, I bet you'd feel some kind of way about that. 252 00:14:24,446 --> 00:14:26,656 [jaunty music] 253 00:14:26,740 --> 00:14:27,580 [sighs] 254 00:14:28,158 --> 00:14:29,368 [inhales] 255 00:14:29,451 --> 00:14:31,001 [exhales and clears throat] 256 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,500 You know the moment in a romantic comedy when everything goes wrong? 257 00:14:37,501 --> 00:14:39,801 Girl spills latte all over guy, 258 00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:43,379 or guy confesses his love to girl seconds before her wedding. 259 00:14:44,633 --> 00:14:45,803 For Michael Hardwick, 260 00:14:46,385 --> 00:14:48,255 his rom-com goes really wrong 261 00:14:48,345 --> 00:14:52,095 when a police officer walks in on private time 262 00:14:52,182 --> 00:14:53,732 between him and his boyfriend. 263 00:14:55,311 --> 00:14:56,941 And in 1982 in Georgia, 264 00:14:57,646 --> 00:15:02,606 some private acts are punishable by up to 20 years of jail time. 265 00:15:03,235 --> 00:15:05,525 But although the charges were dropped, 266 00:15:05,613 --> 00:15:08,163 for Michael his fight was just getting started. 267 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:09,830 He sued the state of Georgia 268 00:15:09,909 --> 00:15:12,539 and eventually his case made it to the Supreme Court. 269 00:15:12,620 --> 00:15:15,330 Hardwick's lawyers argue that the 14th Amendment 270 00:15:15,414 --> 00:15:17,714 protects a person's right to privacy, 271 00:15:18,250 --> 00:15:21,380 which definitely includes a person's bedroom. 272 00:15:23,505 --> 00:15:24,875 [woman] How do we get here? 273 00:15:24,965 --> 00:15:27,465 Go back to the 14th Amendment, Section One. 274 00:15:27,551 --> 00:15:28,591 The argument was 275 00:15:28,677 --> 00:15:32,717 that a law that made it a crime to engage in sex, 276 00:15:32,806 --> 00:15:37,266 deprived the individual of liberty without due process of law. 277 00:15:37,770 --> 00:15:39,480 It's about how you have this right 278 00:15:39,563 --> 00:15:42,653 to be able to make the choice about who you want to love. 279 00:15:42,775 --> 00:15:45,395 Maybe it's not written down, but it's so important 280 00:15:45,486 --> 00:15:48,406 that we're just gonna assume that it's in the Constitution. 281 00:15:51,158 --> 00:15:54,198 The Court, on a close 5-4 decision, 282 00:15:54,286 --> 00:15:57,916 ruled that homosexual claims of a right to participate in sodomy 283 00:15:57,998 --> 00:15:59,958 were not protected by the Constitution. 284 00:16:00,918 --> 00:16:03,668 [reporter] Justice White wondered if the Court would be asked 285 00:16:03,754 --> 00:16:05,594 to give the okay to adultery and incest. 286 00:16:05,673 --> 00:16:10,223 The Supreme Court comes down and says that under the 14th Amendment, 287 00:16:10,302 --> 00:16:13,642 these are not rights protected by the Constitution. 288 00:16:13,722 --> 00:16:15,852 I got shot up in Vietnam and I come back 289 00:16:15,933 --> 00:16:18,643 and they tell me the Constitution doesn't belong to me. 290 00:16:18,727 --> 00:16:20,687 Well, I say bull-- [bleep] 291 00:16:20,771 --> 00:16:24,021 [Rahman] A lot of people likened it to Plessy or Dred Scott, 292 00:16:24,108 --> 00:16:25,778 a Supreme Court decision 293 00:16:25,859 --> 00:16:29,569 that puts them back in a second-class citizenship position. 294 00:16:29,655 --> 00:16:33,075 Equal justice under the law! We're not getting equal rights! 295 00:16:33,158 --> 00:16:36,248 [man] The Court basically said there's no protection for gay people. 296 00:16:36,328 --> 00:16:37,828 They can be put in jail… 297 00:16:39,206 --> 00:16:41,076 for gay sexual conduct. 298 00:16:41,166 --> 00:16:45,706 This was one of the most disgraceful decisions in the 20th century. 299 00:16:46,422 --> 00:16:49,342 [reporter] One of those arrested was Michael Hardwick of Atlanta. 300 00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:52,969 [Gerhardstein] Bowers was a huge roadblock for progress. 301 00:16:53,053 --> 00:16:59,393 It gave our government license to discriminate against gay people. 302 00:17:00,102 --> 00:17:05,982 And so every time you raise the notion of equal rights for gay people, 303 00:17:06,066 --> 00:17:08,606 I'd have Bowers thrown in my face. 304 00:17:08,694 --> 00:17:11,614 And, lo and behold, that's what happened 305 00:17:11,697 --> 00:17:13,697 in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. 306 00:17:16,702 --> 00:17:18,162 [woman] "Mr. Gerhardstein, 307 00:17:18,704 --> 00:17:22,124 since Bowers, every Circuit Court which has addressed the issue 308 00:17:22,207 --> 00:17:24,077 decreed that homosexuals are entitled 309 00:17:24,168 --> 00:17:27,338 to no special Constitutional protection as a special class, 310 00:17:27,421 --> 00:17:31,971 because it's pretty hard to identify in any individual homosexuality, 311 00:17:32,051 --> 00:17:32,971 is it not?" 312 00:17:33,052 --> 00:17:36,182 "How are we even gonna identify who they are?" 313 00:17:37,723 --> 00:17:40,273 I remember that exchange, 314 00:17:41,018 --> 00:17:46,898 and I remember the difficulty Judge Kennedy had with this point 315 00:17:46,982 --> 00:17:50,032 as if… she wanted to know… 316 00:17:50,986 --> 00:17:52,486 who they were. 317 00:17:53,072 --> 00:17:56,662 "Many homosexuals successfully conceal their orientation, 318 00:17:56,742 --> 00:18:00,042 and because homosexuals are not identifiable on sight, 319 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:03,170 unless they choose to be identifiable by their conduct, 320 00:18:03,749 --> 00:18:06,169 they just can't constitute a special class." 321 00:18:07,252 --> 00:18:10,512 I actually have relived this part of the argument 322 00:18:10,589 --> 00:18:12,969 and I want-- I want a do over, 323 00:18:13,550 --> 00:18:16,550 'cause I wanna turn to… 324 00:18:22,476 --> 00:18:26,186 [solemnly] I wanna turn to the crowd. The court room was packed. 325 00:18:29,483 --> 00:18:32,243 [voice breaks] And I wanna ask all the gays to stand up. 326 00:18:35,656 --> 00:18:38,196 [inaudible] 327 00:18:42,454 --> 00:18:44,544 [inhales, then sighs] 328 00:18:47,501 --> 00:18:49,091 They were all around her. 329 00:18:50,504 --> 00:18:52,554 Then I thought, "That's not fair." 330 00:18:52,631 --> 00:18:54,801 I mean, we're still living under Bowers. 331 00:18:54,883 --> 00:18:58,013 Maybe just being identified is going to put them at risk. 332 00:18:58,095 --> 00:19:00,135 We had won zero protection 333 00:19:01,014 --> 00:19:02,024 for these people. 334 00:19:05,561 --> 00:19:08,231 When you lose a case of this consequence, 335 00:19:09,189 --> 00:19:11,979 when you leave a city this defenseless, 336 00:19:12,776 --> 00:19:15,446 when you leave people this lonely… 337 00:19:19,616 --> 00:19:21,986 [voice breaks] …it's hard not to take it personally. 338 00:19:23,078 --> 00:19:25,458 -[gavel bangs] -[background chatter] 339 00:19:30,919 --> 00:19:32,129 [man] Invisibility. 340 00:19:32,754 --> 00:19:35,014 Marginalized groups feel it all too often. 341 00:19:35,507 --> 00:19:39,467 Black people's skin has traditionally made us so invisible to society 342 00:19:39,553 --> 00:19:43,523 that we have had to literally paint our existence onto the streets. 343 00:19:43,599 --> 00:19:45,229 Unlike the Black community, 344 00:19:45,309 --> 00:19:49,609 the LGBTQ community's invisibility comes from being forced to hide. 345 00:19:49,688 --> 00:19:52,398 They've had to live in the closet or face persecution, 346 00:19:52,482 --> 00:19:54,442 being arrested, fired, 347 00:19:54,526 --> 00:19:56,486 ostracized from their family or worse. 348 00:19:56,570 --> 00:19:58,200 And because they've had to hide, 349 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,660 society tells us they simply don't exist. 350 00:20:00,741 --> 00:20:04,581 Art by LGBTQ people is suppressed or coded, 351 00:20:05,621 --> 00:20:08,711 their identities are erased from history. 352 00:20:08,790 --> 00:20:12,250 As LGBTQ poet and essayist Adrienne Rich says, 353 00:20:12,336 --> 00:20:15,586 "When someone describes the world and you're not in it, 354 00:20:15,672 --> 00:20:18,432 there's a moment of psychic disequilibrium, 355 00:20:18,508 --> 00:20:20,968 as if you looked in a mirror and saw nothing." 356 00:20:21,678 --> 00:20:22,758 [exhales sharply] 357 00:20:22,846 --> 00:20:24,056 Can you imagine that? 358 00:20:24,973 --> 00:20:27,943 Well, the sad thing is, too many people can. 359 00:20:30,437 --> 00:20:32,227 [traffic whooshes] 360 00:20:32,314 --> 00:20:33,614 [people chatter] 361 00:20:33,690 --> 00:20:35,280 [horns beep] 362 00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:42,120 [Obergefell] You know, amazingly enough, Cincinnati really started to change 363 00:20:42,199 --> 00:20:43,619 in the early 2000s. 364 00:20:44,284 --> 00:20:49,044 Attitudes slowly but surely were improving towards the LGBTQ community. 365 00:20:49,122 --> 00:20:53,672 I think we were increasing our numbers of people who were progressive 366 00:20:53,752 --> 00:20:56,712 and looking to make Cincinnati a better place. 367 00:20:57,297 --> 00:21:00,757 But John and I, we were never what I would call activists. 368 00:21:00,842 --> 00:21:02,802 We didn't contribute to campaigns. 369 00:21:02,886 --> 00:21:05,346 We didn't campaign on anyone's behalf. 370 00:21:05,430 --> 00:21:06,970 We didn't do any of that. 371 00:21:07,057 --> 00:21:09,977 In some ways I think we were a little divorced from reality 372 00:21:10,060 --> 00:21:14,860 in that we weren't as involved politically as perhaps we should've been. 373 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,360 But in some ways, I think living openly as an open gay couple 374 00:21:20,445 --> 00:21:22,195 is really a political act. 375 00:21:22,781 --> 00:21:25,911 Just being you, you help people learn that, 376 00:21:25,993 --> 00:21:31,333 "Oh, LGBTQ people really aren't that different than me." 377 00:21:31,415 --> 00:21:33,915 "Here I thought they were scary and horrible, 378 00:21:34,001 --> 00:21:36,801 but no, they're really just living their lives." 379 00:21:36,878 --> 00:21:38,758 "And while it might be two men, 380 00:21:38,839 --> 00:21:41,799 their life really isn't that much different from my life." 381 00:21:44,886 --> 00:21:48,516 Some people feel like the LGBTQ movement happened fast. 382 00:21:49,349 --> 00:21:50,349 Really fast. 383 00:21:50,851 --> 00:21:51,771 I get it. 384 00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:55,808 But whether some Americans realize it or not, 385 00:21:55,897 --> 00:21:57,477 it didn't appear out of thin air. 386 00:21:58,108 --> 00:22:01,818 Decades of effort went into the LGBTQ movement. 387 00:22:02,779 --> 00:22:04,319 By the early 2000s, 388 00:22:04,406 --> 00:22:08,946 Americans were seeing more LGBTQ characters on TV. 389 00:22:09,036 --> 00:22:09,946 I'm gay. 390 00:22:10,829 --> 00:22:13,539 [woman] The news began to share LGBTQ stories. 391 00:22:13,623 --> 00:22:15,833 In people's personal lives, 392 00:22:15,917 --> 00:22:18,747 friends and family members started coming out. 393 00:22:19,629 --> 00:22:23,429 So, if someone says the LGBTQ movement happened too fast, 394 00:22:23,508 --> 00:22:25,048 remember for generations, 395 00:22:25,135 --> 00:22:28,805 LGBTQ activists have been fighting for recognition. 396 00:22:28,889 --> 00:22:31,479 And now we're all enjoying the fruits of their labor. 397 00:22:39,483 --> 00:22:41,153 [Adams] Lawrence v. Texas. Okay. 398 00:22:41,234 --> 00:22:43,404 So, '86 Bowers versus Hardwick, 399 00:22:43,487 --> 00:22:46,947 Court says if states want to criminalize same-sex sexual conduct, 400 00:22:47,032 --> 00:22:47,992 be my guest. 401 00:22:48,075 --> 00:22:51,365 So, flash forward to Lawrence versus Texas. 402 00:22:51,453 --> 00:22:53,663 [Epps] In Lawrence, you had two adults 403 00:22:53,747 --> 00:22:56,077 who had been arrested and charged with a crime, 404 00:22:56,166 --> 00:22:59,456 because in private they were having sexual conduct, 405 00:22:59,544 --> 00:23:03,724 and the state of Texas said that it had the power to criminalize that. 406 00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:06,719 [Adams] The Court in Lawrence is looking at a state statute 407 00:23:06,802 --> 00:23:10,182 very similar to the one that was at issue in Bowers versus Hardwick. 408 00:23:10,764 --> 00:23:12,604 The question for the Court now is, 409 00:23:12,682 --> 00:23:16,812 does this statute violate the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment? 410 00:23:18,939 --> 00:23:23,029 In 2003, the Supreme Court has four liberal justices 411 00:23:23,693 --> 00:23:25,703 and five conservative justices. 412 00:23:26,696 --> 00:23:29,026 But one, Anthony Kennedy, 413 00:23:29,116 --> 00:23:34,536 sees the 14th just a little differently than his conservative peers. 414 00:23:35,247 --> 00:23:38,497 [man] "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives." 415 00:23:38,583 --> 00:23:41,043 "Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause 416 00:23:41,128 --> 00:23:43,548 gives them the full right to engage in their conduct 417 00:23:43,630 --> 00:23:45,670 without intervention of the government." 418 00:23:45,757 --> 00:23:47,547 Justice Kennedy, writing for the Court, 419 00:23:47,634 --> 00:23:49,764 does something really interesting and different, 420 00:23:49,845 --> 00:23:55,095 saying, you know, we have to pay attention to the dignity of the individual. 421 00:23:55,183 --> 00:23:58,023 [Kennedy] We conclude this case should be resolved by determining 422 00:23:58,103 --> 00:24:00,023 whether the petitioners were free as adults 423 00:24:00,105 --> 00:24:03,105 to engage in this private conduct in the exercise of their liberty 424 00:24:03,191 --> 00:24:05,991 under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. 425 00:24:06,486 --> 00:24:07,396 The Court said, 426 00:24:07,487 --> 00:24:13,197 you can't outlaw people's intimate lives just because you disapprove of them. 427 00:24:13,285 --> 00:24:16,035 You have to show that it's hurting society in some way. 428 00:24:16,121 --> 00:24:19,791 There's no evidence that it is. Gay people are living like everybody else. 429 00:24:19,875 --> 00:24:23,035 [Kennedy] Our obligation is to define the liberty of all… 430 00:24:23,128 --> 00:24:25,668 [both] …not to mandate our own moral code. 431 00:24:26,715 --> 00:24:29,295 [Kennedy] Bowers was not correct when it was decided 432 00:24:29,384 --> 00:24:31,144 and it is not correct today. 433 00:24:31,219 --> 00:24:33,639 It ought not to remain the binding precedent. 434 00:24:34,681 --> 00:24:38,101 Bowers versus Hardwick should be, and now is, overruled. 435 00:24:38,185 --> 00:24:40,895 It's one of the few times where the Court actually overrides 436 00:24:40,979 --> 00:24:43,689 an earlier precedent to go the other way. 437 00:24:43,773 --> 00:24:48,653 For the first time the Court says that the right to choose your own partner 438 00:24:48,737 --> 00:24:50,987 is one of those fundamental rights 439 00:24:51,072 --> 00:24:55,412 protected by the Due Process Clause in the 14th Amendment. 440 00:24:59,206 --> 00:25:02,746 But there was a disagreement within the Court. 441 00:25:02,834 --> 00:25:05,424 [Kennedy] Justice Scalia has filed a dissenting opinion… 442 00:25:05,504 --> 00:25:08,884 [Epps] Scalia read from the bench, which is something that justices do 443 00:25:08,965 --> 00:25:12,425 only when they're very, very unhappy with the results. 444 00:25:13,094 --> 00:25:17,024 "Many Americans do not want homosexuals to be partners in their business, 445 00:25:17,098 --> 00:25:20,438 scoutmasters for their children, or boarders in their home." 446 00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:23,439 "They view this as protecting themselves and their families 447 00:25:23,522 --> 00:25:27,112 against a lifestyle they believe to be immoral and destructive." 448 00:25:27,192 --> 00:25:30,032 [Scalia] So imbued is the Court with the law profession's 449 00:25:30,111 --> 00:25:32,361 anti-anti-homosexual culture… 450 00:25:32,447 --> 00:25:35,697 "…that it is seemingly unaware that the attitudes of that culture 451 00:25:35,784 --> 00:25:37,704 are not obviously mainstream." 452 00:25:37,786 --> 00:25:41,116 He says the Court had been captured by elitists, 453 00:25:41,206 --> 00:25:43,916 it had been captured by the homosexual agenda, 454 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,300 and that it had no business getting involved in the culture war. 455 00:25:47,379 --> 00:25:50,719 "Let me be clear that I have nothing against homosexuals, 456 00:25:50,799 --> 00:25:54,139 or any other group promoting their agenda through democratic means, 457 00:25:54,219 --> 00:25:56,929 but persuading one's fellow citizens is one thing, 458 00:25:57,430 --> 00:26:01,020 and imposing one's views in absence of democratic majority will…" 459 00:26:01,101 --> 00:26:02,811 -[mouths] -[Scalia] …is something else. 460 00:26:02,894 --> 00:26:05,364 [Epps] Scalia did say in the years after Lawrence, 461 00:26:05,438 --> 00:26:09,068 if I can't make laws against behavior I consider immoral 462 00:26:09,150 --> 00:26:10,900 just because I consider it immoral, 463 00:26:10,986 --> 00:26:13,356 I can't run a legal system that makes any sense, 464 00:26:13,446 --> 00:26:16,616 because law has to be based on social morality. 465 00:26:17,117 --> 00:26:19,737 Well, Lawrence as it was written 466 00:26:20,453 --> 00:26:25,003 took that particular social disapproval off the table. 467 00:26:25,083 --> 00:26:28,343 So, once it's established that those relationships 468 00:26:28,420 --> 00:26:30,960 are equal in respectability 469 00:26:31,047 --> 00:26:34,337 to those between partners of the opposite sex, 470 00:26:34,426 --> 00:26:36,006 then the next question becomes, 471 00:26:36,094 --> 00:26:39,014 "Okay, what's your reason for saying we can't get married?" 472 00:26:40,724 --> 00:26:44,354 [woman] A brief history of gay marriage in the United States. 473 00:26:44,436 --> 00:26:48,566 Two student activists, Richard Baker and James Michael McConnell 474 00:26:48,648 --> 00:26:51,188 applied for a marriage license in Minnesota. 475 00:26:51,985 --> 00:26:54,945 They were denied by the clerk and by the courts, 476 00:26:55,488 --> 00:26:58,828 but then, in Colorado, a different clerk, Clela Rorex, 477 00:26:58,908 --> 00:27:01,698 whose name is as unique as her place in history, 478 00:27:01,786 --> 00:27:02,996 did the unthinkable… 479 00:27:03,079 --> 00:27:04,209 her job. 480 00:27:04,914 --> 00:27:07,214 One of the couples that Clela legally married 481 00:27:07,292 --> 00:27:12,342 was Richard Adams, an American, and Tony Sullivan, an Australian, like me. 482 00:27:12,422 --> 00:27:13,262 G'day. 483 00:27:13,340 --> 00:27:17,090 But even now legally married, Tony was denied a green card. 484 00:27:17,177 --> 00:27:20,347 The federal government claimed that they'd "failed to establish that 485 00:27:20,430 --> 00:27:25,560 a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots." 486 00:27:26,895 --> 00:27:29,015 And in response to that delightful letter, 487 00:27:29,105 --> 00:27:31,265 Tony and Richard filed the first lawsuit 488 00:27:31,358 --> 00:27:34,148 to seek federal recognition for same-sex marriage. 489 00:27:34,235 --> 00:27:35,065 They lost. 490 00:27:35,654 --> 00:27:37,664 And then, the '90s happened. 491 00:27:38,365 --> 00:27:41,365 Present Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act, 492 00:27:41,451 --> 00:27:44,581 banning recognition of all same-sex marriage. 493 00:27:45,330 --> 00:27:46,920 Eventually he changed his mind. 494 00:27:46,998 --> 00:27:50,418 Granted, it was after he was out of office, so that's safe. 495 00:27:50,919 --> 00:27:54,339 Federally, DOMA lived on under President Bush, 496 00:27:54,422 --> 00:27:56,552 but the states had a different opinion, 497 00:27:56,633 --> 00:27:59,763 leading the charge to legalize gay marriage. 498 00:27:59,844 --> 00:28:02,144 All marriages are now equal. 499 00:28:02,222 --> 00:28:04,602 [narrator] Despite the Defense of Marriage Act, 500 00:28:04,683 --> 00:28:06,943 courts in Massachusetts and Hawaii 501 00:28:07,018 --> 00:28:10,398 decide in favor of same-sex marriage cases. 502 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:11,980 But there's a backlash, 503 00:28:12,065 --> 00:28:13,975 and in 2004, 504 00:28:14,067 --> 00:28:18,567 thirteen states across the country adopt same-sex marriage bans, 505 00:28:19,239 --> 00:28:24,989 including Oregon, Michigan, Kentucky, Utah, Louisiana and Ohio. 506 00:28:27,247 --> 00:28:31,747 So, in 2011, it was our 18th year together as a couple. 507 00:28:31,835 --> 00:28:36,005 We had this tradition of getting rings for anniversaries 508 00:28:36,089 --> 00:28:39,089 and it really started when we were together just seven weeks. 509 00:28:39,175 --> 00:28:40,585 John gave me a diamond ring, 510 00:28:41,803 --> 00:28:44,933 'cause he knew at that point we were together for good. 511 00:28:45,849 --> 00:28:48,769 I would say within the first two years of our relationship, 512 00:28:48,852 --> 00:28:50,812 we talked about marriage. 513 00:28:50,895 --> 00:28:54,225 You know, we had friends who were having commitment ceremonies, 514 00:28:54,315 --> 00:28:55,565 but they weren't marriages. 515 00:28:56,443 --> 00:28:57,993 We wanted to get married. 516 00:28:59,362 --> 00:29:02,912 But we decided that, for us, marriage has to be marriage, 517 00:29:02,991 --> 00:29:05,241 it can't just be the symbolic gesture. 518 00:29:05,326 --> 00:29:07,746 We want it to mean something legally. 519 00:29:07,829 --> 00:29:10,999 We wanted a level of government to say, 520 00:29:11,082 --> 00:29:14,252 "You guys matter. You exist. We see you." 521 00:29:14,961 --> 00:29:18,301 From a state level we were being told, "You can never get married." 522 00:29:18,381 --> 00:29:21,381 And even if you were married legally in another state, 523 00:29:21,968 --> 00:29:23,758 and could show a marriage license, 524 00:29:23,845 --> 00:29:26,805 the state of Ohio could say, "It means nothing to us." 525 00:29:28,099 --> 00:29:30,139 But John and I still were hopeful. 526 00:29:32,729 --> 00:29:37,029 January of 2011, I started to notice something different… 527 00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:40,320 in the way John was walking. 528 00:29:41,112 --> 00:29:42,612 It just sounded different. 529 00:29:43,323 --> 00:29:44,373 It was like one foot 530 00:29:44,449 --> 00:29:46,989 was slapping the floor harder than the other. 531 00:29:47,994 --> 00:29:52,624 It's such a minor thing, just this change in the sound of the way someone walks 532 00:29:53,374 --> 00:29:54,794 and it wasn't going away. 533 00:29:54,876 --> 00:29:56,336 And I finally convinced him, 534 00:29:56,419 --> 00:29:59,509 "Something's up here. You really should go see the doctor." 535 00:29:59,589 --> 00:30:03,179 "Jim," I said, "Call me when you get the test results." 536 00:30:03,259 --> 00:30:04,429 And he said he would. 537 00:30:05,053 --> 00:30:06,643 And I didn't hear from him. 538 00:30:06,721 --> 00:30:10,931 So, I called him and Jim just started crying. 539 00:30:11,017 --> 00:30:13,807 He said, "I'm so sorry to tell you this over the phone. 540 00:30:13,895 --> 00:30:16,355 I'm sorry to tell you, but it is ALS." 541 00:30:17,941 --> 00:30:19,231 And I just… 542 00:30:19,943 --> 00:30:23,703 I just felt like somebody hit me in the chest with a baseball bat. 543 00:30:24,781 --> 00:30:28,451 [Obergefell] He was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. 544 00:30:28,535 --> 00:30:29,785 That was the start of it. 545 00:30:29,869 --> 00:30:32,079 Left foot, moved into his left hand 546 00:30:32,163 --> 00:30:34,873 and then his right side started to join in. 547 00:30:35,667 --> 00:30:37,707 [Tootie] As John got sicker and sicker, 548 00:30:38,211 --> 00:30:41,051 Jim would just sit there and look at him and love him. 549 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,180 He was with him every second. 550 00:30:44,676 --> 00:30:48,806 So, our days were filled with watching TV, 551 00:30:50,682 --> 00:30:51,562 holding hands, 552 00:30:53,101 --> 00:30:56,191 knowing the end was coming but not knowing exactly when. 553 00:30:58,982 --> 00:31:03,192 So, on June 26th, 2013, I was working at the dining table 554 00:31:03,278 --> 00:31:05,858 and John called me from his room and said, 555 00:31:06,573 --> 00:31:07,573 "Jim, come in." 556 00:31:08,199 --> 00:31:12,119 So, I went into his room and he was watching the news. 557 00:31:12,871 --> 00:31:17,001 The Supreme Court has just struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 558 00:31:17,083 --> 00:31:18,963 [Obergefell] Oh my God. [laughs] 559 00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:28,930 If you're married, you get a different level of benefits, usually higher. 560 00:31:29,012 --> 00:31:32,852 And you might get some tax breaks, like Edie Windsor. 561 00:31:32,932 --> 00:31:37,602 Without recognition of her marriage, she ended up having a $300,000 tax bill. 562 00:31:37,687 --> 00:31:40,607 If her marriage had been recognized, there'd be no tax, 563 00:31:40,690 --> 00:31:43,190 so she had a lot at stake financially. 564 00:31:43,693 --> 00:31:48,163 [Windsor] When my beautiful Thea died, I was overcome with grief. 565 00:31:48,239 --> 00:31:49,489 In the midst of my grief, 566 00:31:49,574 --> 00:31:53,584 I realized that the federal government was treating us as strangers. 567 00:31:53,661 --> 00:31:56,081 [Gerhardstein] This gets up to the Supreme Court, 568 00:31:56,164 --> 00:31:59,334 and the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down. 569 00:32:00,251 --> 00:32:04,381 So I read this and I thought, "This is huge, 570 00:32:04,881 --> 00:32:08,511 and I would like to give this marriage argument 571 00:32:08,593 --> 00:32:10,093 a real shot." 572 00:32:12,305 --> 00:32:15,635 [Obergefell] I'm standing next to John's bed, holding his hand. 573 00:32:15,725 --> 00:32:19,095 I leaned over, hugged and kissed John, and said, 574 00:32:19,938 --> 00:32:21,148 "Let's get married." 575 00:32:23,858 --> 00:32:25,898 [Tootie] The phone rang and it was Jim, 576 00:32:25,985 --> 00:32:28,235 and he said, "What are you doing next week?" 577 00:32:28,321 --> 00:32:30,201 And I said, "Why? What's happened?" 578 00:32:31,282 --> 00:32:34,492 [Obergefell] Here we are living six blocks from our county courthouse. 579 00:32:34,577 --> 00:32:38,247 In a perfect world, I could've just taken John in his wheelchair 580 00:32:38,331 --> 00:32:40,751 to get our marriage license, but not in Ohio. 581 00:32:41,334 --> 00:32:45,964 That really left us one choice, and that was a chartered medical jet. 582 00:32:47,131 --> 00:32:49,181 So we settled on Maryland. 583 00:32:49,258 --> 00:32:50,758 It was a quiet flight… 584 00:32:51,386 --> 00:32:52,216 few words. 585 00:32:54,222 --> 00:32:58,102 Landed at BWI and we parked on the tarmac. 586 00:32:59,060 --> 00:33:01,190 [Tootie] Today is a momentous day, 587 00:33:01,270 --> 00:33:07,440 not only in the lives of two of the most loving and special men I have ever known, 588 00:33:08,194 --> 00:33:13,244 also in the lives of all who know, love, and respect them 589 00:33:14,409 --> 00:33:16,449 and, in the larger sense, 590 00:33:16,536 --> 00:33:22,166 for those Americans who have waited to be recognized as equal under the law 591 00:33:22,750 --> 00:33:24,670 and in matters of the heart. 592 00:33:24,752 --> 00:33:27,342 It was a very short service, but… 593 00:33:28,464 --> 00:33:33,264 I remember at the beginning of it I said, "Would you two please take hands?" 594 00:33:33,344 --> 00:33:38,184 And I looked and I realized that they had never not been holding each other's hands. 595 00:33:38,266 --> 00:33:39,806 Put it on upside down. 596 00:33:39,892 --> 00:33:43,192 [Obergefell] We got to do something we never thought we'd be able to do, 597 00:33:43,688 --> 00:33:46,318 take each other's hands and say, "I thee wed." 598 00:33:46,399 --> 00:33:50,399 [Tootie] With the respect of the law of our great land, 599 00:33:50,486 --> 00:33:53,986 I now pronounce you husband and husband, 600 00:33:54,073 --> 00:33:56,703 forever intertwined partners. 601 00:33:56,784 --> 00:34:00,624 May love and goodwill be with you forever. 602 00:34:01,122 --> 00:34:02,712 Let us all rejoice. 603 00:34:02,790 --> 00:34:05,380 [camera clicks] 604 00:34:06,294 --> 00:34:08,384 [John] I feel like the… 605 00:34:09,005 --> 00:34:11,375 luckiest guy 606 00:34:12,550 --> 00:34:13,930 in the world. 607 00:34:14,427 --> 00:34:15,757 Just happy. 608 00:34:17,096 --> 00:34:18,596 That's all I can say. 609 00:34:18,681 --> 00:34:21,021 It was a happy occasion. 610 00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:23,270 It was truly a happy occasion. 611 00:34:23,811 --> 00:34:27,901 I've never been prouder to be an American than I was that day. 612 00:34:27,982 --> 00:34:29,982 -[man] How'd it go, Pastor? -[Tootie] Good! 613 00:34:30,068 --> 00:34:33,198 [poignant music playing] 614 00:34:34,322 --> 00:34:37,282 [man] For John to take that ride, 615 00:34:37,366 --> 00:34:38,526 for him to do that, 616 00:34:38,618 --> 00:34:42,708 was just the culmination of who they were 617 00:34:42,789 --> 00:34:45,039 as a couple and what they meant to each other. 618 00:34:47,168 --> 00:34:51,418 [Obergefell] By being able to make those promises and commitments public and legal, 619 00:34:51,506 --> 00:34:52,796 everything changed. 620 00:34:53,633 --> 00:34:57,853 I think John and I used the word "husband" a few thousand times every day. 621 00:34:57,929 --> 00:35:00,389 "Would you like something to drink, husband?" 622 00:35:01,182 --> 00:35:03,102 "Is the volume okay, husband?" 623 00:35:03,184 --> 00:35:04,524 "I love you, husband." 624 00:35:15,196 --> 00:35:19,236 [Gerhardstein] I was at a picnic and we're talking about the issues of the day, 625 00:35:19,325 --> 00:35:21,325 including the Windsor decision, 626 00:35:21,410 --> 00:35:24,040 and somebody says, "Well, I have really good friends, 627 00:35:24,122 --> 00:35:27,172 they were so excited by the Windsor decision 628 00:35:27,250 --> 00:35:31,050 that they flew to the airport in Baltimore 629 00:35:31,546 --> 00:35:34,916 and got married right there on the tarmac." 630 00:35:35,007 --> 00:35:38,677 She says, "It's all gonna be in the paper on Sunday." This is Friday night. 631 00:35:38,761 --> 00:35:41,181 I said, "Well, that is exciting." 632 00:35:41,264 --> 00:35:42,974 "I'm really happy for them." 633 00:35:43,641 --> 00:35:48,021 "But, um, you know that they've got a problem." 634 00:35:48,688 --> 00:35:51,608 So, five days after we got married, Al came to our home. 635 00:35:51,691 --> 00:35:53,941 I brought one piece of paper with me. 636 00:35:54,026 --> 00:35:56,196 I just brought a blank death certificate. 637 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,320 [Obergefell] He said, "Guys, I'm sure you haven't talked about this 638 00:36:00,408 --> 00:36:02,788 because why would you think about a death certificate 639 00:36:02,869 --> 00:36:04,369 when you just got married?" 640 00:36:04,453 --> 00:36:06,623 "But do you understand that when John dies, 641 00:36:06,706 --> 00:36:09,126 his last official record as a person will be wrong?" 642 00:36:09,208 --> 00:36:12,748 "Ohio will say he was unmarried, single, 643 00:36:12,837 --> 00:36:15,797 and, Jim, your name won't be there as his surviving spouse." 644 00:36:15,882 --> 00:36:17,472 And they were furious. 645 00:36:17,550 --> 00:36:19,590 I can admit it, it pissed me off. 646 00:36:19,677 --> 00:36:22,307 They wanted to know more. I mean, what would it take? 647 00:36:22,388 --> 00:36:23,968 We can do a copycat case. 648 00:36:24,056 --> 00:36:26,386 We can walk in the shoes of Windsor 649 00:36:26,893 --> 00:36:30,273 and just frame it the same way they framed that case. 650 00:36:30,354 --> 00:36:32,274 Um, I can't guarantee a win. 651 00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:34,396 I can only guarantee my best efforts, 652 00:36:34,483 --> 00:36:36,283 but I'm liking the chances. 653 00:36:36,861 --> 00:36:39,531 [Obergefell] John, he thought it was the right thing to do, 654 00:36:39,614 --> 00:36:43,284 even though we both understood it meant I would be stepping away from John 655 00:36:43,367 --> 00:36:47,077 to devote some time to courtrooms, to meetings. 656 00:36:47,163 --> 00:36:49,373 To us, it was clear we had to do this. 657 00:36:49,457 --> 00:36:53,917 So, John and I talked and very quickly said, "Yes, we're in." 658 00:36:54,003 --> 00:36:56,053 "Count us in. Let's do what we can." 659 00:36:57,131 --> 00:36:59,511 [Gerhardstein] So we filed three days later. 660 00:36:59,592 --> 00:37:02,302 You have to understand that I'm a trial lawyer. 661 00:37:02,887 --> 00:37:04,217 I solve problems. 662 00:37:04,764 --> 00:37:06,724 My clients' problem 663 00:37:06,807 --> 00:37:09,727 was that they weren't going to get an accurate death certificate. 664 00:37:09,810 --> 00:37:12,480 So, that's all I need. Shouldn't be too big a deal. 665 00:37:12,563 --> 00:37:17,243 We're not trying to do anything flashy, sexy, weird, unusual 666 00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:19,108 here in little old Ohio. 667 00:37:19,195 --> 00:37:22,405 We're just trying to apply the Supreme Court precedent 668 00:37:22,490 --> 00:37:24,030 and that's what we were doing. 669 00:37:24,742 --> 00:37:27,702 -[man] Is that all that you were doing? -No. 670 00:37:27,787 --> 00:37:29,407 But it was a first step. 671 00:37:29,497 --> 00:37:31,917 Same-sex marriage is legal in Maryland. 672 00:37:31,999 --> 00:37:32,999 It's legal here. 673 00:37:33,793 --> 00:37:36,003 [Obergefell] So, after we left court, 674 00:37:36,504 --> 00:37:39,514 a few hours later I was back home with John 675 00:37:39,590 --> 00:37:41,680 and Aunt Tootie was there. 676 00:37:41,759 --> 00:37:46,179 And the phone rang and Jim hung up and… 677 00:37:46,264 --> 00:37:48,684 I'll never forget he said, "We won!" 678 00:37:48,766 --> 00:37:50,636 He said, "It looks like we won!" 679 00:37:50,726 --> 00:37:54,356 You know, it's something to see somebody celebrating the fact 680 00:37:54,438 --> 00:37:59,738 that his death certificate will be able to show that he's a married man. 681 00:37:59,819 --> 00:38:02,489 [Obergefell] It was a good day. One of the happiest moments 682 00:38:02,571 --> 00:38:05,411 towards the end of John's life. I'm confident of that. 683 00:38:06,575 --> 00:38:10,825 John got to live for three months to the day after that decision. 684 00:38:11,330 --> 00:38:15,420 This one evening I started reading one of his favorite books to him, 685 00:38:16,002 --> 00:38:17,672 Weaveworld by Clive Barker, 686 00:38:18,462 --> 00:38:21,762 and over the next couple of hours he just got quieter and quieter 687 00:38:22,967 --> 00:38:24,797 [voice breaks] and he went to sleep. 688 00:38:27,972 --> 00:38:30,392 And I still remember the last sentence I read, 689 00:38:31,142 --> 00:38:34,022 "Lions, he'd come with lions." 690 00:38:38,190 --> 00:38:42,860 [emotional music fading away] 691 00:38:46,907 --> 00:38:49,197 [sighs] It was a beautiful love story. 692 00:38:49,285 --> 00:38:52,995 That's all there is to it. It was a beautiful love story before the illness 693 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,880 and it was a fantastic love story afterwards. 694 00:39:00,588 --> 00:39:04,088 John died on October 22nd, 2013 695 00:39:04,967 --> 00:39:08,297 and we applied for the death certificate. 696 00:39:08,387 --> 00:39:10,507 It came back with the right wording, 697 00:39:11,182 --> 00:39:13,892 and we got what we sought. 698 00:39:14,643 --> 00:39:18,563 But Ohio kept saying, "You know, when we win this case on appeal 699 00:39:18,647 --> 00:39:20,517 we're going to change all this back." 700 00:39:20,608 --> 00:39:23,608 "We're going to honor what the people voted for 701 00:39:23,694 --> 00:39:25,654 when they banned same-sex marriage, 702 00:39:25,738 --> 00:39:27,698 so this case is hardly over." 703 00:39:29,283 --> 00:39:32,123 [narrator] Their fight is just getting started. 704 00:39:32,870 --> 00:39:37,920 Case Obergefell v. Hodges goes all the way to the Supreme Court. 705 00:39:38,501 --> 00:39:41,211 They're joined by couples across America 706 00:39:41,295 --> 00:39:44,415 fighting to have their marriages recognized by their state 707 00:39:44,507 --> 00:39:48,837 or to have their state's same-sex marriage bans overturned. 708 00:39:49,553 --> 00:39:50,473 This is big. 709 00:39:51,055 --> 00:39:54,475 This could be the 14th Amendment doing what it does best. 710 00:39:55,226 --> 00:39:59,396 Or will the Supreme Court deny this basic human right? 711 00:40:00,981 --> 00:40:04,821 In January of 2015, we got word that the Supreme Court said, 712 00:40:04,902 --> 00:40:06,612 "Yes, we will accept this case 713 00:40:06,695 --> 00:40:09,235 and it will now be known as Obergefell v. Hodges." 714 00:40:09,990 --> 00:40:13,370 And so the question was, does the 14th Amendment 715 00:40:13,452 --> 00:40:18,252 require states to permit same-sex couples to marry? 716 00:40:18,916 --> 00:40:21,876 I needed to be in that courtroom to hear everything that was said. 717 00:40:23,003 --> 00:40:25,673 We got there at seven o'clock in the morning. 718 00:40:25,756 --> 00:40:28,006 The whole atmosphere, 719 00:40:28,092 --> 00:40:32,512 there were the people that were there in support of gay rights, 720 00:40:32,596 --> 00:40:35,176 then there were the people that were against it. 721 00:40:35,266 --> 00:40:37,726 It was really something to watch. 722 00:40:38,519 --> 00:40:40,689 [Obergefell] Once we got into the courtroom, 723 00:40:40,771 --> 00:40:43,821 we were seated over towards the side to the left of the bench. 724 00:40:44,650 --> 00:40:47,570 They only allow so many people in, 725 00:40:47,653 --> 00:40:50,413 because it's not that big of a venue. 726 00:40:50,489 --> 00:40:52,659 The courtroom was smaller than I expected. 727 00:40:52,741 --> 00:40:56,501 I don't know, I had this image of this enormous, grand courtroom. 728 00:40:57,246 --> 00:40:58,956 [gavel bangs three times] 729 00:40:59,039 --> 00:41:01,669 Then, the justices come in. 730 00:41:02,168 --> 00:41:06,208 [man] We'll hear argument this morning in case number 14-556, 731 00:41:06,297 --> 00:41:08,127 Obergefell versus Hodges 732 00:41:08,215 --> 00:41:10,125 and the consolidated cases. 733 00:41:10,217 --> 00:41:12,677 One of my heroes is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 734 00:41:12,761 --> 00:41:18,771 and she's so small that when she sits behind the podium 735 00:41:18,851 --> 00:41:22,271 only, like, from her neck up shows, 736 00:41:22,354 --> 00:41:24,274 but when she asks a question, 737 00:41:24,356 --> 00:41:27,686 there's no doubt that she's a very big presence. 738 00:41:27,776 --> 00:41:30,696 [Ginsburg] But we have changed our idea about marriage. 739 00:41:30,779 --> 00:41:34,069 Marriage was a relationship with a dominant male 740 00:41:34,158 --> 00:41:36,618 to a subordinate female. 741 00:41:36,702 --> 00:41:39,752 Would that be a choice that a state should be allowed to have? 742 00:41:39,830 --> 00:41:43,540 -To cling to marriage the way it once was? -[man] No, absolutely not. 743 00:41:43,626 --> 00:41:46,496 The justices are constantly stopping. 744 00:41:46,587 --> 00:41:48,627 [man] I don't think you answered my question. 745 00:41:48,714 --> 00:41:49,724 Both sides. 746 00:41:49,798 --> 00:41:51,878 [Scalia] It has nothing to do with Article IV. 747 00:41:51,967 --> 00:41:54,547 It's a constant give-and-take, question-and-answer. 748 00:41:54,637 --> 00:41:57,717 [man] Congress shall make no law respecting the freedom of religion. 749 00:41:57,806 --> 00:42:00,596 -[woman] Yes, and I… -[man] It leaves this question open? 750 00:42:00,684 --> 00:42:02,854 It's really amazing to watch. 751 00:42:05,439 --> 00:42:09,649 I was certainly there for the Obergefell argument 752 00:42:09,735 --> 00:42:12,735 and I recall the lead counsel 753 00:42:12,821 --> 00:42:15,951 defending the laws against same-sex marriage. 754 00:42:16,033 --> 00:42:18,203 He is asked by Justice Kennedy, 755 00:42:18,285 --> 00:42:19,945 who's obviously, everyone knows, 756 00:42:20,037 --> 00:42:21,787 the important vote in this case, 757 00:42:21,872 --> 00:42:24,922 "What about respect for the dignity of the couple?" 758 00:42:25,543 --> 00:42:28,133 And the Solicitor General of Michigan says, 759 00:42:28,212 --> 00:42:31,672 "The state of Michigan has no interest in the dignity of couples." 760 00:42:31,757 --> 00:42:36,467 And people, including me, I have to say, around the courtroom went, "What?" 761 00:42:36,971 --> 00:42:39,311 -[gavel bangs] -[man] Case is submitted. 762 00:42:39,390 --> 00:42:42,140 [Gerhardstein] So, the oral arguments end and, 763 00:42:42,226 --> 00:42:46,186 well, you don't really know when the Court's gonna announce its decision. 764 00:42:46,772 --> 00:42:52,152 So, Jim was going to every decision day for two months. 765 00:42:52,236 --> 00:42:55,106 A few years ago, had anyone asked me, 766 00:42:55,197 --> 00:42:57,067 "Jim, what's the 14th Amendment?" 767 00:42:57,658 --> 00:42:59,028 I would have had no idea. 768 00:42:59,118 --> 00:43:02,578 My knowledge of the Constitution was pretty common. 769 00:43:02,663 --> 00:43:05,673 I could rattle off some of the amendments, you know. 770 00:43:05,749 --> 00:43:08,499 At least what they stood for, not necessarily numbers. 771 00:43:08,586 --> 00:43:11,086 But I really didn't know the Constitution. 772 00:43:11,171 --> 00:43:14,841 And yet, that Amendment underpins this decision. 773 00:43:14,925 --> 00:43:17,545 [tense music plays] 774 00:43:20,055 --> 00:43:21,555 [gavel bangs three times] 775 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,810 Chief Justice says Justice Kennedy will read the first decision. 776 00:43:24,893 --> 00:43:30,733 [man] Justice Kennedy has our opinion in case 14-556, Obergefell versus Hodges. 777 00:43:30,816 --> 00:43:33,106 I startled in my chair and I… 778 00:43:33,777 --> 00:43:36,987 took my friend's hands and thought, "Okay, here it comes." 779 00:43:39,617 --> 00:43:44,037 "The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times." 780 00:43:45,456 --> 00:43:49,746 "The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment 781 00:43:49,835 --> 00:43:53,205 did not presume to know the extent of freedoms 782 00:43:53,297 --> 00:43:54,877 in all of its dimensions, 783 00:43:55,799 --> 00:43:59,639 and so they entrusted to future generations 784 00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:03,100 a charter protecting the right of all persons 785 00:44:03,182 --> 00:44:07,142 to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning." 786 00:44:07,227 --> 00:44:11,857 [gentle piano music] 787 00:44:11,940 --> 00:44:13,650 [voice breaks] Everyone knew… 788 00:44:15,027 --> 00:44:16,607 the significance… 789 00:44:17,821 --> 00:44:19,281 of what was happening. 790 00:44:20,949 --> 00:44:23,039 "No union is more profound than marriage, 791 00:44:23,118 --> 00:44:26,458 for it embodies the highest ideals of love, 792 00:44:26,538 --> 00:44:30,128 fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family." 793 00:44:30,793 --> 00:44:32,753 "In forming a marital union, 794 00:44:33,337 --> 00:44:37,047 two people become something greater than once they were." 795 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,760 "As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, 796 00:44:40,844 --> 00:44:44,394 marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death." 797 00:44:45,224 --> 00:44:47,564 "It would misunderstand these men and women 798 00:44:47,643 --> 00:44:50,603 to say they disrespect the idea of marriage." 799 00:44:50,688 --> 00:44:51,648 "Their plea… 800 00:44:53,107 --> 00:44:54,897 is that they do respect it, 801 00:44:55,651 --> 00:45:00,451 respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves." 802 00:45:01,907 --> 00:45:04,077 "Their immutable nature dictates… 803 00:45:05,577 --> 00:45:08,457 that same sex marriage is their only real path 804 00:45:08,539 --> 00:45:10,579 to this profound commitment." 805 00:45:12,084 --> 00:45:16,094 "They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law." 806 00:45:16,672 --> 00:45:19,682 "The Constitution grants them that right." 807 00:45:22,386 --> 00:45:26,636 I remember looking out and seeing the faces of these people, 808 00:45:26,724 --> 00:45:29,104 some of them openly weeping like children, 809 00:45:29,184 --> 00:45:30,944 tears running down their cheeks. 810 00:45:32,604 --> 00:45:37,694 No one's hard-edged around something that profound. 811 00:45:39,111 --> 00:45:42,451 It was one of the most amazing moments I've ever seen. 812 00:45:42,531 --> 00:45:45,911 I will tell my children, I will tell my grandchildren 813 00:45:45,993 --> 00:45:48,123 that I was there when the Court said, 814 00:45:48,704 --> 00:45:50,874 "The door is open, you can walk through, 815 00:45:50,956 --> 00:45:52,956 you are full members of society." 816 00:45:53,041 --> 00:45:56,751 [emotional music playing] 817 00:45:56,837 --> 00:45:58,837 [cheering and whistling] 818 00:46:03,802 --> 00:46:07,562 [Obergefell] My first thought was, "John, I miss you. I wish you were here." 819 00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:10,929 "I wish you could know we won. I wish you could experience this." 820 00:46:14,271 --> 00:46:15,191 And that… 821 00:46:16,064 --> 00:46:22,534 emotion, that feeling was quickly followed by a surprising realization. 822 00:46:23,906 --> 00:46:26,866 It was the first time in my life as an out gay man… 823 00:46:28,535 --> 00:46:30,695 that I felt like an equal American. 824 00:46:30,788 --> 00:46:33,248 [cheering] 825 00:46:33,332 --> 00:46:36,212 [reporter] Standby. We want to go back now to the Supreme Court. 826 00:46:36,293 --> 00:46:39,173 You see some of the interns running out with the decision 827 00:46:39,254 --> 00:46:41,924 [reporter 2] Here come our intern now with the decision. 828 00:46:42,007 --> 00:46:44,297 The Court has handed down its ruling. Here it is. 829 00:46:44,384 --> 00:46:47,854 This is what it says. "The 14th Amendment requires a state 830 00:46:47,930 --> 00:46:50,890 to license a marriage between two people of the same sex 831 00:46:50,974 --> 00:46:54,694 and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex…" 832 00:46:55,562 --> 00:46:58,862 [Obergefell] So I sat in that courtroom between my friends 833 00:46:58,941 --> 00:47:02,281 knowing that word has gotten out to the crowd out front 834 00:47:02,361 --> 00:47:05,531 and that there's a party going on, people are celebrating 835 00:47:05,614 --> 00:47:09,084 and all I can think is, "Come on, wrap this up. I want to go." [laughs] 836 00:47:09,159 --> 00:47:11,329 [cheering] 837 00:47:12,079 --> 00:47:15,119 Al and I are arm in arm and we're leading our group 838 00:47:15,207 --> 00:47:17,837 and the crowd just split before us. 839 00:47:18,669 --> 00:47:21,299 We would take a step and it would split further, 840 00:47:21,380 --> 00:47:23,880 and people were crying and cheering, 841 00:47:23,966 --> 00:47:26,216 singing, celebrating. 842 00:47:26,301 --> 00:47:28,431 [Gerhardstein] You get out on the front steps 843 00:47:28,512 --> 00:47:30,642 and you've got protesters on both sides, 844 00:47:30,722 --> 00:47:33,062 you've got these amazing choirs singing 845 00:47:33,141 --> 00:47:37,351 and, like, a totally discordant thing 'cause all the sound's happening at once 846 00:47:37,437 --> 00:47:41,937 and all the media's crowding around him and Jim's talking to 25 microphones. 847 00:47:42,025 --> 00:47:43,935 I want to thank my legal team. 848 00:47:44,027 --> 00:47:46,027 And especially Al Gerhardstein, 849 00:47:46,113 --> 00:47:48,623 who stood by me every single step of the way. 850 00:47:48,699 --> 00:47:50,119 He gets a call from the President. 851 00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:52,370 -Hi. Is this Jim? -Yes, it is, Mr. President. 852 00:47:52,452 --> 00:47:54,582 I just wanted to say congratulations. 853 00:47:54,663 --> 00:47:58,673 And while he's talking to the President, Vice President Biden goes to voicemail. 854 00:47:58,750 --> 00:48:01,630 Not only have you been a great example for people, 855 00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:04,882 but you're also going to bring about a lasting change in this country. 856 00:48:04,965 --> 00:48:05,875 Yeah. Thank you. 857 00:48:05,966 --> 00:48:08,386 I mean, it's just one of those moments 858 00:48:08,468 --> 00:48:12,718 that you just can't do a do-over on that and you don't want to. 859 00:48:14,558 --> 00:48:17,558 [Obergefell] It was an amazing experience to walk through the crowd 860 00:48:17,644 --> 00:48:19,154 and to feel the love. 861 00:48:19,646 --> 00:48:23,606 [chanting] Love is love! Love is love! 862 00:48:23,692 --> 00:48:28,662 The day ends in Cincinnati with gay couples getting married 863 00:48:28,739 --> 00:48:31,409 and the celebration is kicked off. 864 00:48:31,491 --> 00:48:34,121 [man] And so, by the power conferred by the Supreme Court 865 00:48:34,202 --> 00:48:35,752 of the United States of America, 866 00:48:35,829 --> 00:48:39,499 we rejoice today in the power of love. 867 00:48:39,583 --> 00:48:41,713 You may seal your vows with a kiss. 868 00:48:42,961 --> 00:48:43,881 [applause] 869 00:48:47,633 --> 00:48:51,183 [Gerhardstein] And it continued the next day with Gay Pride Day. 870 00:48:54,723 --> 00:48:57,273 I mean, how many cases end 871 00:48:57,351 --> 00:48:59,851 with a parade through the center of the city 872 00:48:59,937 --> 00:49:02,057 and everybody going absolutely nuts? 873 00:49:02,648 --> 00:49:04,608 -[cheering] -Happy Pride! 874 00:49:04,691 --> 00:49:08,781 [Tootie] There were so many young people lining those streets 875 00:49:08,862 --> 00:49:13,282 and they were looking at Jim and just quietly moving their lips, 876 00:49:13,367 --> 00:49:15,697 "Thank you, thank you." 877 00:49:16,286 --> 00:49:18,616 I'm talking about hundreds of faces 878 00:49:18,705 --> 00:49:21,575 saying, "This is the way it should be." 879 00:49:22,167 --> 00:49:26,757 [Obergefell] To go through this city that had changed so drastically, 880 00:49:26,838 --> 00:49:29,008 the most gay-unfriendly city in the nation, 881 00:49:29,675 --> 00:49:33,135 to this wonderful, welcoming place… 882 00:49:35,847 --> 00:49:37,267 …I'll never forget that. 883 00:49:38,433 --> 00:49:40,023 John would just… [laughs] 884 00:49:40,102 --> 00:49:42,902 John would think this was the most hilarious thing. 885 00:49:43,605 --> 00:49:50,445 If you told him that his medical condition somehow had led to a historic sea change 886 00:49:50,529 --> 00:49:52,859 in the United States legal system, 887 00:49:53,407 --> 00:49:55,487 he would probably give you that look. 888 00:49:55,575 --> 00:49:58,405 [Tootie] You know, like, "Let me tell you." 889 00:49:58,495 --> 00:50:00,155 That kind of expression. 890 00:50:00,247 --> 00:50:01,787 But I can see him saying, 891 00:50:01,873 --> 00:50:05,593 "See, Aunt Tootie, it really is all about love." 892 00:50:05,669 --> 00:50:06,709 [laughs] 893 00:50:06,795 --> 00:50:08,375 "That's what it's about." 894 00:50:08,463 --> 00:50:10,093 You know, explaining it to me. 895 00:50:10,173 --> 00:50:15,053 So, I think that's what he would say. 896 00:50:15,137 --> 00:50:18,057 And I think he would be just incredibly proud 897 00:50:18,140 --> 00:50:21,230 that his marriage was part of it. 898 00:50:22,853 --> 00:50:28,863 [hopeful instrumental music] 899 00:50:37,117 --> 00:50:39,407 [Epps] It was yet another lesson 900 00:50:39,494 --> 00:50:41,204 that conscientious attempts 901 00:50:41,288 --> 00:50:45,538 to apply the Constitution's rules to our national life 902 00:50:45,625 --> 00:50:48,045 can produce extraordinary moments. 903 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:50,920 This is the heart of the 14th Amendment, 904 00:50:51,006 --> 00:50:57,176 the original meaning of civil rights were the rights that you must have as a person 905 00:50:57,262 --> 00:51:00,972 in order to be fully present in society. 906 00:51:01,516 --> 00:51:04,386 By recognizing this concept of the basic civil rights, 907 00:51:04,478 --> 00:51:06,518 the basic rights of humanity, 908 00:51:07,314 --> 00:51:10,114 you know, we move forward over 150 years 909 00:51:10,192 --> 00:51:14,112 and we're still figuring out what that means. 910 00:51:15,906 --> 00:51:18,076 So, the 14th Amendment, while many years ago 911 00:51:18,158 --> 00:51:20,578 I couldn't have told you one thing about it, 912 00:51:21,286 --> 00:51:22,746 now I know the 14th Amendment 913 00:51:22,829 --> 00:51:28,089 and I understand how that amendment is such an important tool 914 00:51:28,168 --> 00:51:30,838 in ensuring that we are treated equally. 915 00:51:30,921 --> 00:51:36,221 It helps move us towards our American value of "We the People," 916 00:51:36,301 --> 00:51:40,681 and living up to those commitments is one of the most meaningful things. 917 00:51:41,181 --> 00:51:44,431 That's what drove me, I had to live up to my promises to John. 918 00:51:45,143 --> 00:51:47,403 I did this because I loved him and… 919 00:51:49,106 --> 00:51:50,226 love wins. 920 00:51:50,315 --> 00:51:51,645 It certainly did that day. 921 00:51:53,610 --> 00:51:56,320 [upbeat music playing] 922 00:51:57,948 --> 00:52:03,618 [narrator] Marriage equality shows the 14th can be a beacon of inclusivity, 923 00:52:03,703 --> 00:52:08,293 a bridge to an America that honors the love we have for each other. 924 00:52:08,959 --> 00:52:10,669 Thanks in part to 14, 925 00:52:10,752 --> 00:52:16,802 the LGBTQ community has gone from being seen as a feared other 926 00:52:16,883 --> 00:52:19,263 to being treated as people, 927 00:52:19,845 --> 00:52:22,845 as living, breathing human beings 928 00:52:22,931 --> 00:52:24,351 who deserve equal rights. 929 00:52:25,642 --> 00:52:26,812 And in the same way, 930 00:52:27,310 --> 00:52:29,940 another group has been struggling for America 931 00:52:30,021 --> 00:52:33,111 to recognize their shared humanity. 932 00:52:33,608 --> 00:52:38,108 They too want 14 to be a bridge to the American Dream, 933 00:52:38,905 --> 00:52:41,655 but instead, they've hit a wall. 934 00:52:42,409 --> 00:52:45,999 [contemporary instrumental music plays]