More than a decade ago, California’s voters approved Proposition 8, a single-sentence attack on the liberty and dignity of their fellow Californians and Americans that proclaimed that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”  Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the federal court decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that struck down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional and recognized the relationships of same-sex couples “for what they are: marriages.”

In the decade that followed, the courts—the Supreme Court in particular—issued a number of landmark decisions expanding rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ community.  In remembering the Proposition 8 decision, I cannot help but think of the other milestone cases that were decided in the 10 years after Perry and my own contribution, however small, to the great work done by the countless activists, advocates, and lawyers who have fought (and bled) for the equal treatment and freedoms of all people, regardless of who they are or who they love.