5:01 p.m., Monday, June 16. My colleague Sarah summons me and the rest of our organizing team into the conference room of our Los Angeles office. “It’s time to celebrate!” she says while pulling out a plate of wedding cookies and a bottle of champagne. Together, we raise a happy toast to the same-sex couples who are marrying in California.

I had been waiting for this moment with baited breath. Now that it was happening, it felt somewhat surreal. Another colleague, Jaan, best summed it up: “We’ve just landed on the moon.” Like the famed lunar landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, we were bearing witness to a great historic moment. We were also discovering an expanded terrain of hope and possibility for the LGBT community.

11:23 a.m., Tuesday, June 17. I’m in West Hollywood at the local community center, where both gay and straight couples are waiting to marry. Amidst those waiting are couples sporting formalwear and those wearing sportswear; eager 20-somethings and patient 60-somethings; established professionals and college students. Throngs of friends and family are also here to lend support and bear witness. My stomach flutters as I witness couple after couple declaring their love for one another. While the marriages don’t change how they feel about each other, it is a declaration of commitment and responsibility and a way to show the world that their love matters. Love feels so alive today!

June 16 will be a day to celebrate for years to come. It wasn’t just the day when same-sex Californians began to marry. It was the day when gay Californians, like their straight counterparts, could publicly affirm their love and responsibility to one another. It was a day when couples could formalize their happiness and commitment for one another. And it was a day when gay and lesbian Californians shared in the hopes of dreams of many — to marry the person they love.

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