Just days before the annual LGBT Pride festivities began in San Francisco, crowds filled the streets in celebration of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The June 26 ruling effectively overturned Prop. 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban. By Friday, the governor instructed counties to begin making marriage licenses available to same-sex couples. The Pride celebration, with an estimated crowd of 1.2 million, was more festive than usual, as gay couples were able to marry over the entire weekend. According to the San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder, there were 563 same-sex marriage licenses issued.
In Florida, Traian Popov, a Bulgarian graduate student on a student visa, and his partner Julian Marsh, were the first gay couple in the country to have their application for immigration benefits approved after the Supreme Court struck down DOMA.