Washington, DC – The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Hollingsworth v. Perry, challenging California’s Proposition 8 that revoked same-sex couples’ ability to marry in the state.

The following statement was made by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defender’s Executive Director Lee Swislow after oral arguments:

“We are confident this case got a fair hearing today in our nation’s highest court. Gay and lesbian couples have the same love and make the same commitment as all couples, and deserve the same recognition as full citizens.

These couples are simply asking for the government to honor their fundamental right to marry and to treat them with equal dignity and respect under the law.

Our country’s history is one of expanding the circle of constitutional rights and protections to include more citizens, and our nation is always the better for it.

We are hopeful that the court will seize this historic moment, and come down on the side of fairness, dignity and equality.”

GLAD has been a leader in the fight to secure the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, starting with its 1997 litigation in Vermont leading to civil unions in 2000 and the landmark 2003 victory in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health making Massachusetts the first state to legally marry same-sex couples, followed by wins in Connecticut’s Supreme Court in 2008, in the New Hampshire and Vermont legislatures in 2009, and at the ballot box in Maine in 2012.