SALT LAKE CITY — On the day that the Supreme Court denied a request to revisit a 2015 landmark decision allowing same-sex marriage, some in Utah were taken back to the moment it became reality over a decade ago.
Dec. 20, 2013 was a busy day at the Salt Lake City Courthouse.
“He was like, you need to get down to the courthouse right now," recalled Michael Ferguson of the words to get him and his now-husband, Seth Anderson, moving. "He said, 'Judge Shelby has just opened up a window for you to get legally married. We don’t know if this is going to be 5 minutes or 5 hours or if this is the new status quo. But just hurry.'”
Ferguson and Anderson didn’t have time for a suit and tie.
“When he told us, 'I've been approved to give you a marriage license,' and it was just… I mean, I really can’t express the ways of joy that just started flowing through my nervous system,” said Ferguson on Monday, the day of the Court's announcement.
Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage:
The two became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Utah when same-sex marriage in the state was temporarily legal from December 20, 2013 to January 6, 2014.
“Utah was the first state in the country in 2013 to overturn a ban on marriage equality and that started the domino effect of states all across the country. One by one, overturning these bans until we reached the decision in 2015, the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, that brought marriage equality to all 50 states," explained Equality Utah Executive Director Troy Williams.
Fast forward to Monday, when marriage equality was once again brought into the spotlight. This time, as a request brought to the Supreme Court to revisit that 2015 decision.
“We were immensely grateful to see the Supreme Court, by rejecting Kim Davis’ request, have reaffirmed that all families in this country deserve equal protections under the law,” said Williams.
The Court's conservative majority declined the petition to consider overturning the decision.
“I think it does really give us, as a gender and sexual minorities, a firmer platform for revitalizing an activism of joy," shared Ferguson.
Moments such as those captured in Ferguson and Anderson's wedding video can’t be recreated. Through all the ups and downs in court, to all the ups and downs marriage brings. 12 years later. Ferguson wouldn’t change a thing.
“Marriage is so worth it," he said. "It’s soul-wrenching work. Don’t be deluded into thinking it’ll be an easy breezy circuit party for the duration of your relationship. It’s work, but it’s so worth the work.”
