Jim_Obergefell

Wow...everything you just said is thank you enough for me, and to know that you have someone you love and will fight for. Just knowing that people across the country can be married everywhere is what makes it all so worth it. Even though John died 3 months to the day after our first win I would still go back and do it again. It was the right thing to do. Be proud of who you are, enjoy that relationship, fight for the person you love and raise a glass of champagne some day in John's honor. We loved champagne. That's my request: raise a glass in his honor, love the person you love -- that's the best thanks I could ever get.

[laughs]...oh god...I'd rather fight 1 Scalia-sized duck. Cause in essence I've already fought Scalia in court and I won. Also ducks make me laugh so while fighting him I'd laugh the whole time.

That's a good question. I think one of the most important things for any social justice cause is to build a sense of community with organizations. I started with my local civil rights attorney but then the ACLU, Lambda legal, HRC got involved. These are all different organizations. While they may have had difficulties in the past like any organizations can have, they all worked together for a common cause. Any social justice fight needs to concentrate on building community for our common betterment and not fight against each other. We have to realize we are all fighting for the same things. As far as the cost of getting to the Supreme Court I look at that from my personal perspective, I invested a lot of time, effort. John and I from the moment we decided to file suit we knew there would be a cost to it. It was something that was very important to us and a very easy decision to make. For me the cost has been very little from a personal point of view. I was more than happy to give up my time, my effort and emotions.

After the decision came out I had the opportunity to be in two parades that weekend. I was in the Cincinnati parade and that was incredibly emotional to ride through the streets of my hometown and have people calling out my name. I found myself crying. Going to San Francisco pride parade blew me away. It was long and I cried the entire time. I was overwhelmed by the love I felt. The thousands of people who as I rode by were just mouthing thank you at me and crying. That parade was one of the most overwhelming experiences I had because it was nothing but love and joy. It felt more raw and less of a crazy party, but more of a celebratory party. People were celebrating that our world had just become a better world. It was really an unbelievably beautiful experience to be there and feel that it was different from past prides. People I spoke with there said the same thing. That it was much more about love and celebrating, but not the wild crazy celebrating. Celebrating the fact that we were all alive and the ruling from the Supreme Court. It's something I'll never forget.

John and I met in the summer of 1992 for the first time. I was in Graduate school and hadn't come out yet. I was with a friend who happened to be John's friend and we met at a bar. John and I were introduced but nothing happened. Couple months later I was back and happened to be at the same bar and John was there again. John was there with a friend to teach her how to talk to men. I don't remember any sparks flying, but our friend Melissa told John "that guy likes you", and he said "what guy?" So obviously I wasn't very memorable at the time. A couple months later it was the holidays and I was back again and I got invited to John's house by a mutual friend for a new years eve party and I never left. John 27 and I was 26 and I just celebrated my 49th birthday.

I do like video games, but they're the ones I grew up with. I'm a child of the 80s for me it's Pac-man or Galaga. My favorite superhero is Wonder Woman. I can't wait for a movie to come out.