Prop. 8 plaintiffs ‘elated and excited’ by Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling
Paul Katami, left and Jeff Zarrillo, right, at their home in Burbank on Friday, June 26, 2015. The married couple celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage equality should be allowed in all of the United States.
With the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage anticipated Friday, two of the plaintiffs in the landmark case that struck down California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8 in 2013 were waiting with the TV on, laptops and iPad at the ready.
Friday’s date carried “sheer poetry,” in that it coincided with not only the overturning of Proposition 8 two years ago, but with other historic moments in the gay rights movement including the 2003 decision that struck down a Texas sodomy law, said Burbank resident Paul Katami.
“It’s poetic because there’s a bit of a harmony [with the dates],” he said.
Katami and Jeff Zarrillo were the first couple to be married in Los Angeles after same-sex marriages were allowed to begin again following the 2013 ruling.
In an interview Friday, Katami said he and Zarrillo were “elated and excited” that the ruling had recognized the rights of gays to marry. But, while they were grateful to have played a part in the fight, he added, it was not an overnight victory — and it’s not the end of the struggle.
“This is definitely a moment to celebrate [it is] a major step forward,” Katami said, but he added that “we still have a lot of work to do — the discrimination hasn’t ended.”
Zarrillo said the decision means couples like them will now be treated as equal citizens throughout the country, providing important federal protections for spouses in same-sex marriages.
“Equality should not stop at a state border,” Zarrillo added.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), a vice chair for the congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, also lauded the ruling in a statement Friday.
“State bans on same-sex marriage are finally being labeled what they are: ‘unconstitutional,’ creating legal protections that reflect the dignity of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters,” he said.
While Supreme Court rulings may be long and voluminous, Zarrillo said, the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy included a poetic coda that defined the issue as a pursuit of “equal dignity” under the law.
“That’s all we’ve ever really been after as a community,” Zarrillo said. “At the root of everything, it was about that equal dignity.”