Sometimes, things become clear when you are forced to explain them in simple terms. As I prepared to travel to San Francisco last September to join the legal team at oral argument before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, I tried to explain to my four-year-old son why I was leaving for a few days. I told him that some people weren’t allowed to marry the people they loved, and that I was working with a team to change that. And, in so many ways, it was that simple.

My involvement in Sevcik v. Sandoval, the case that defeated Nevada’s marriage ban, began in late 2011 in partnership with Lambda Legal and O’Melveny & Myers. As we prepared to bring this challenge, we had the pleasure of getting to know the remarkable and courageous plaintiffs who had chosen to be part of this fight. Lead plaintiffs, Beverly Sevcik and Mary Baranovich, had been together for more than 40 years. All spoke of their desire to be married, or to have the state recognize their marriages, and for the privileges and rights so many people do not have to think twice about. These couples had been excluded from hospital rooms, been asked who their children’s “real” mothers or fathers were as they sought medical care, and have had to expend significant resources in order to protect basic property and parental rights that different-sex married couples enjoy through simple operation of law.

Originally published in Nevada Lawyer - July 2015.