A day in court for Jim Obergefell, the face of the historic gay marriage case
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Version 0 of 1. Shortly after 6 a.m., as the sun rose behind the Supreme Court, Jim Obergefell stepped out of a chauffeured car and toward the moment he had spent months waiting for — defending his marriage for eternity. The man whose name is now synonymous with the legal fight for gay marriage in America pulled out his iPhone and snapped a photo of the court. Then he took one of Paulette Roberts, aunt to his late husband, John Arthur. She married them in 2013 on a medical plane in Baltimore, where they had flown from Ohio to marry as Arthur was dying of ALS. And finally, they took a photo together. “Say cheese,” Obergefell said. Roberts said, “Say equality.” [How Jim Obergefell became the face of the Supreme Court gay marriage case] Obergefell’s arrival at the Supreme Court turned heads, not just in the throng of media but among gay-marriage advocates gathered at the court for the historic arguments. Though there are multiple appellants, the soft-spoken real estate broker from Cincinnati is the named plaintiff in the case — Obergefell v. Hodges — because his was the lowest case number. That means Obergefell, 48, could become as famous as Brown (the lead plaintiff in the historic school-desegregation decision) or Roe (the pseudonym for Norma McCorvey in the case that legalized abortion nationwide). But his goal isn’t to make history; it’s to make sure he is listed as the surviving spouse on his husband’s death certificate. Two women approached him. “We’re here from Austin,” one said, shaking his hand. “We’re here to support you.” CNN wanted to talk to him. “I’m excited and still hoping it sinks in, because it hasn’t quite yet,” he said into the mike. He continued: “It was an easy decision to stand up and say, ‘We won’t take this.’ ” Because the court was hearing two questions on the issue and Obergefell wanted to see all the arguments, a line holder saved a spot for him. When he took his spot in line, he was standing next to Julian Bond, the noted civil rights activist. “He’s going to be famous like all those other famous names,” Bond said. “People are going to be talking about him for years. That must be a peculiar place to be in, but it looks like he’s handling it well.” Obergefell arrived in the District late last week and rented a place in Georgetown to house him and his family. There has been a lot of hurly-burly: parties for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner; private tours of the Capitol and the White House; interviews (many, many interviews); meetings with lawyers; selfies with aunts and cousins and nieces and anyone else who asks. On Monday evening, he hosted a small cocktail party at the Human Rights Campaign for his friends, family members and supporters. “You’re the man of the hour,” a young woman told him. “Am I?” Obergefell said, laughing and holding a glass of white wine. Every time he turned around, someone else wanted a moment to get in a few words. “Your name,” one man told him, “is going to be in legal case books forever.” Then they joked about how to pronounce his name. The man got it wrong. Obergefell gently corrected him: It’s Oh-ber-guh-fell. The party broke up after 9 p.m., and Obergefell went back to Georgetown, where he slept for about 31/2 hours — “about three hours longer than I expected,” he said, standing in line at the court. [Excited crowds gather at Supreme Court as gay marriage case is heard] Even amid the circus outside the court and in his life, Obergefell said it was simple not to lose focus of the reason he was there: to make sure his name isn’t stripped from his husband’s death certificate, as Ohio wants to do. “That’s the reason for the hoopla,” he said. “So this is easy.” Obergefell didn’t bring much to remind him of his husband. He didn’t need to. “Just my ring,” he said, holding up the ring he had fused together from both of their wedding rings. “And my heart. And my thoughts.” “We know he’s here with us,” Roberts said. He took a photo of his ticket — No. 5 — as he headed up the steps, posting it on Facebook: “My own personal golden ticket! Heading in now!” Then he posted another photo of him and Roberts from inside the court building: “So thrilled Aunt Paulette, aka Aunt Tootie, is here with me for this!” Friends and family members posted pictures on Obergefell’s page of him with Arthur, with the label “I’m with Jim.” “Go get 'em today at the Supreme Court!” someone wrote. In court, Obergefell sat with his husband’s aunt toward the front right, with a clear sightline to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. [Supreme Court appears split on historic gay marriage cases] Toward the end of the hearing, attorney Doug Hallward-Driemeier, representing the petitioners, brought up Obergefell’s case and the death certificate. “The state has no legitimate interest for denying them the dignity of that last fact regarding his life,” he said. Obergefell broke down and cried. After the arguments, he joined the other plaintiffs on the courthouse steps, waving to hundreds of supporters and protesters. As he strode down, he wiped tears from his eyes. And then he faced a horde of TV cameras. “I walked up to these steps and into that courtroom today as an American citizen,” Obergefell said, “and I read those words engraved over the front door: ‘Equal justice under law.’ ” His husband was an American citizen, too, he said, and it would be an injustice if Obergefell’s name was not listed as the surviving spouse. “We deserve,” Obergefell said, “the same respect as any other couple.” |