"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

-- Justice Anthony Kennedy, June 26th 2015

Periodically I share this image as it remains one of my favorites. Evelia and I were living in Minneapolis when this profound statement was made by Justice Kennedy and the U.S. took another step forward in embodying the true meaning of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It was also coincidentally the same weekend that the Twin Cities were having their Pride celebration. It was a wonderful, exhilarating moment in time, filled with joy and excitement for the future; and in the middle of it all in Loring Park, stood this representation of one of our strongest symbols of equality and compassion, with one flag on the right fallen on the ground, almost as a unintentional symbol of the fact that all struggles for freedom have a cost and not all live to see it happen.

Later, as I was working the image in post, I was struggling a bit with a way to amplify the feelings of this day amidst all the color and the happy crowds and it hit me that for this scene, while the joyousness of the occasion was the inspiration for the photo, the strength of the rainbow symbol was the key. After that it made perfect sense to focus on that.

Forward progress is rarely a smooth path and stumbles backward often precede great leaps forward. Given the recent events that we have seen, hopefully we can take solace in the fact that setbacks are not forever.

#people #love #future #respect #progress #obergefell #resist #photography #images