10 Years Later: Looking Back On a Week That Shaped Our Country
To mark the 10th anniversary of this historic week, I sat down with Garrison Hayes, to discuss the themes from that moment that resonate today — namely that making progress in our democracy relies on ordinary people doing their best to make America a better place. Michelle also reflected on that moment below.
The Obama Foundation is also marking this anniversary by announcing that a number of artifacts from Jim Obergefell — including his wedding ring, marriage certificate, and the bow-tie he wore in front of the Supreme Court — will reside in the Obama Presidential Center.
Read President Obama’s reflections on that day:
Progress in this country never comes easy or quick. For every few hard-earned steps forward, we might stumble a couple steps back. But sometimes, the slow, steady effort of generations is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.
That’s exactly what happened in a remarkable sprint of history ten years ago this week. The Supreme Court upheld a critical part of the Affordable Care Act. A day later, it recognized a Constitutional right to marriage equality. And that same afternoon, a congregation in Charleston, still reeling from a horrifying act of racial violence but fortified by the extraordinary courage of ordinary friends and neighbors, led the country in a chorus of Amazing Grace.
It was a week that reasserted our freedoms. The freedom from fear that random illness or accident could cost us everything. The freedom to marry who we love. The freedom intrinsic to a people who, even when we lose our way, are never bound to the past — but rather great precisely because we can change.
Progress in this country is never guaranteed, either. But that week, it felt like the efforts of so many, across generations, was bending the arc of the moral universe a little more towards justice. I recently sat down with Garrison Hayes to talk about that day, and what it can teach all of us about how change happens.
Read Mrs. Obama’s reflections on that day:
Ten years ago today was a day I’ll never forget. That morning, the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional guarantee of marriage equality, affirming the overdue truth that every American has the right to marry who they love. This victory was only possible because of decades of hard work from countless LGBTQ+ activists who stood up, spoke out, and never gave up in their pursuit of their rights.
That afternoon, Barack and I attended the funeral of the nine beautiful souls we lost at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina — parishioners murdered in an act of hatred while praying at church. I’ll never forget how devastating it was. But I’ll also never forget how the families of those we lost carried themselves with such grace.
Not long after we returned to the White House that evening, hundreds of people gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue, all of them cheering the Supreme Court’s decision. The White House was alight with the colors of the rainbow, a fitting sight for a day of such pride — and such a spectrum of emotions. I’ll always remember the extraordinary highs and lows so many of us felt that day, the unforgettable grace notes of just a few hours in America.
Love won — in so many different ways that day.
