When we moved from California to Nebraska in 2014, we knew we'd be in for a different climate and landscape. We gave up the ocean and friends for a job opportunity in Nebraska that was almost too good to be true. Fortunately for us, something has remained the same: the talent and passion of those who work for the ACLU. Along with incredible neighbors and coworkers, the ACLU was part of our life in California and has been a part of our creating a home here in Nebraska.
As soon as we signed paperwork for our new house in Omaha, we felt uncomfortable saying on the forms that we were "single" as we had been living as a married couple in California since 2008. We contacted the ACLU and joined with several other couples who sued the State of Nebraska for the freedom to marry. We're so thankful that victory is won for our family and thousands of other same-sex couples in Nebraska and around America.
We know, though, that the work of the ACLU is far from done. While our relationship is now recognized because of plaintiffs and lawyers, legislators and lobbyists, protestors and e-activists and allies that put a supportive sticker on their car or interrupt an anti-LGBT joke at a family dinner, the LGBT individuals who come out every day to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even acquaintances, and the donors who fund this work, there are still many rights yet to be protected or won for our community and all people who need their rights and liberties defended.
What we've found through this past year and a half, with the help of the ACLU, the other clients who fought for the freedom to marry and our wonderful neighbors, is a home and a community. And we're thrilled to do our part to support the work of the ACLU. No matter who is tomorrow's target of intolerance and discrimination, we want to ensure the ACLU is equipped to give freedom a voice. With the ACLU's marriage victory, we feel like we are a part of history. That is why we are annual donors and why we decided to make a gift to the ACLU in our will to defend justice, liberty, and freedom now and forever.
