You are thinking about records and things like that, has any of you do any research on that concern . That is always been something really pressing to met to know where im from in termss of africa. I know it is difficult because of the fact that the history of being enslaved you were dispersed children and adults and such. So has any of you historians ever address that concern . Will isis stood researchers for 35 years. About. T. About 70 were working on family history. Family history is a big part of what the archives staff assist patrons with. So if you have not asked for help, go ask for help. Of course youre going to find the records of enslaved people. You have to realize that you have to search the white records. He had. You have to search the deeds, the wills and very honestly, sometimes theyre not there. County courthouse bern, family got rid of the plantation records. It amazes me when i go see a pilgrimage a pilgrimage home. A lot of times the family home they still have the plantation records there on display in the pilgrimage home. Theyre not available available for you to research if theyre in that home. He a lot of times the family took the records, a lot of times the family destroyed the record into not want to have that memoryha again its taking up space in their new, modern home. Sometimes the records are not available. Someti but if you can identify aif you possibility of a white family, the records might have found a way in. What i found is when i went to the Archives Office there was a so much that you could actually research and i got as far as unfortunately they named the people in the same category as they did animals. But they didnt go so far as to naming those plantation owners and then from there the question is, the question that i had was where those people came from prior to that. But they put a federal seal on those records. So my question question is, dont you think people deserve to know where theyre actually originally from will the answer is yes they do. But the records must exist for that possibility. Now to find out where youre from, dna testing would help with that. For africanamericans in a big way. But again, that is a field that, i have not pursued. I would deal with the paper records myself. I think on that note we need to cut it off. Where getting the signal from the back of the room. I think our time is that. Thank you very much for coming and thank you chart to our panels for good discussion. N. [applause]. Heres a look at upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. Tomorrow starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, we are live in new york for the brooklyn book festival featuring author discussions on topics that range from immigration to digital privacy, the military, Campaign Politics with the likes of ralph nader, thomas frank, Molly Crabapple and more. Next saturday, september 24 book tv is live from the 16th annual National Book festival in washington. Our coverage includes author talks from pulled surprise from Pulitzer Prize winners, and that gordon reeve, stacy ship as well as your calls for authors bob woodward, ken burns and representative john lewis. Coming up next month as the southern festival of books in nashville, tennessee from october 14 through 16th. Also the boston book festival. For more information on book fairs and festivals on book tv and to watch previous festival coverage click the book fair tab on the website, booktv. Org. [inaudible] [inaudible] hello. Welcome. I am jack. Health professionals today consider the lgbt Networking Organization it was founded back in 1983. That is 33 years ago. As a nonprofit, professional has a threefold mission. One, career. We offer seminars and workshops i career transition and professional development. Two, community. We help members build lgbt business relationships at breakfast and after work mixers. Three, culture. We programmed theater parties, screenings, walking tours, bus tours, bus trips and author appearances like tonight. When we are happy to welcome back to Health Professionals favorite. For ten years he directed movie features and produce new stories at us weekly. He is conducted q as with dozens of newsmakers and has provided commentary on cnn, msnbc, good morning america, and the today show. As a media manager at family equality council. He was present for last years Marriage Equality arguments at the Supreme Court. Please welcome bradley jacob. [applause]. At the miami herald, she was a member member of the Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative reporting team. At the Washington Post, she has reported on the failure of local groups to provide services to people with aids. Her investigative reporting has led to changes in federal law regarding huds housing programs for the poor. She is the distinguished coauthor of love wins. Please welcome debbie. [applause]. Form policy magazine has named him one of the global thinkers. They included him in the annual out 100. As the named plaintiff in last Years Supreme CourtMarriage Equality case, he became the face of the movement and a legal groundbreaker. And he is the coauthor of love wins, the book book is National Launch we celebrate tonight. Please welcome jim. [applause]. [inaudible] [inaudible] the mayor and possibly the governor will be here. I think that will probably be a group talking on that. None one i know that what orlando will come up here and there and our conversation. We embrace it, but i do want to start out talking about jim and the journey so lets begin. Lets start with the last name. If you google oberg fell, one of the first thing that comes up is our president struggling to pronounce her last name. You are not there. He was pronouncing your name wrong and when i rewatch to clip the day we went Marriage Equality and the president called you on your cell phone and were able to capture it and we are able to hear the whole thing. I heard that phone call actually avoided pronouncing your last name there. How did it feel, lets talk about that phone call. When did you know that you are going to be getting a call . At some point that day someone said to me, we have given a couple of phone numbers out in case anyone wants to call you. Thats all they said. With the with the implication that it could be someone important. For me it came as a surprise, but i think anything couldve happened in that moment and it wouldve been a surprise. I was just overwhelmed and in this moment where he cannot process what was going on. So couldve been any person calling and i wouldve been amazed. It was the president. For me, im really thrilled cnn happen to be there and im glad it happened and because after i spoke with the president every interview after that the very first question was, what to did the president say, what did you say . I will tell you i havent transcript right here, he said barack, your buddy set im really proud of you, your leadership has change the country. Youre bringing up lasting change. I cannot be more proud of you and your husband, he said he was proud twice. And then he said to the cnn anchor. Thank you mr. President you couldnt put it into words. Your stuns and it was like nothing ever dreamed up. Yet and when people asked me that i had no idea, i have no memory whatsoever what the president said or what i said. In fact i was nervous. I wandered over and over today form complete sentences . Was i polite and respectful . I had no idea. To be able to watch the was one of those moments of okay i can relax now because at least i did not make a fool of myself. Does not the first time youve spoken with the president. You had talked with him at least once before, earlier that week at a pride celebration at the white house. Correct. I met i met him earlier that week at the white house for the pride month reception. Didnt he give you some kind of clue that it was going to happen . I was wondering that sounded like an ethical breach . What i remember him saying is that we are all looking for to some positive news were hoping for some positive news this week. Something along those lines. I dont know that he had any clue. I dont think he knew. But he was hopeful and that gave me hope. Will that was really wonderful. Your voice described yourselves as an accidental actor. So take us back and quickly summarize if you would how your name ended up as the lead plaintiff here. In 2013, june 26 of june 26 of that year when the winter decision was announced, might john, my partner of over 20 years which had als and was bedridden. I was the primary caregiver at home. When the decision was announced i leaned over and hugged him and kissed him and said lets get married. He said yes and then we had to go through the painful process of figuring out how to do that. But we made it happen. We came home from maryland where we got married in a tarmac on a medical jet. We got back to cincinnati. Those all we wanted was to get married and live out johns days. We had no other plans. By virtue of friends running into a friend of theirs whose a civil rights attorney telling her story, that civil rights attorney got in touch. In our first conversation with us he doesnt that that change the course of our lives which turned into a change in our country. It wasnt planned, it happened and we filed suit in the state of ohio. And that was in federal court and we won. Later we are combined with five other cases from three other states and we lost an Appeals Court and we filed with the Supreme Court. The. The question was, how did it become known as ober fell hodges, it wasnt anything complicated or special. It was just by virtue of timing. When the Supreme Court we had the lowest case number. Thats all it was. Where all the lion share of or burka and how did it feel having this. Im the baby of six in all my siblings and nieces and nephews so that the one that lives in manhattan, are still in northern ohio. [inaudible] [inaudible] they were completely supportive of john and me from the very moment john came into my life. Theyre just thrilled and happy and glad that it is not them in the limelight. You do not strike me as a limelight loving person, so as someone who has really sought it, you are an it professional, so was there ever a moment where you are like, i dont know if i want all of this, i dont know if i want my name and the paper. Or if i want to be this icon. I never think of myself as an icon. So so i have never thought of it that point. When we initially filed suit there is some trepidation knowing that our faces, our names, the video of us would be in the news and around the country. Theres always trepidation with that because we are not public people. We are very private. I never wanted to be someone that people recognize or stop on the street. But over over the past two years it happened over and over. It happens on street corners here, it happens walking at time square in at airports, all across the country people see me, they they recognize me and stop me. Even though it is not something i wanted, i would would not trade it for anything. They stop me simply to say thank you. To shake my hand, tell me stories, share photos, to hug me when they cant think of anything else to do. So many of those interactions result in tears. Every single time that happens it is the best payback for any anonymity that i have given or suffered. I would do it all again just anoint those personal interactions are the gift that i get every single day as a thank you. [applause]. Take us back to that june last year. I heard that you went to the Supreme Court every day pretty much thinking that it might be the day. Tell us a little bit about that and when did you get an inkling, if not from president obama that it might be happening on the 26th . I was told by several people you really should start showing up in d. C. In midjune. This is a big decision and typically they hold off on those decisions until the end of the term. They said start showing up in midjune just to be there. So starting june 15i was june 15 i was in d. C. For every decision day. At that point we all thought well, monday june 29 because they had only scheduled decision days on mondays. So we thought monday june 29 is likely when it will happen. The week of the 22nd i was there on monday and that was the day they then announced that we are going to release decisions later this week on thursday and then they also added friday. And that was when we all started to think wait, friday june 26. That is a somewhat important date for the gay rights movement. So we all started thinking is going to be on friday. So we thought it was the Supreme Court took my place in line. I was in the public line and the ms through this morning was vastly different from every other morning. It was lighter, looser, it was happier. I think it was because most of us in that line thought june 26, we think this is a sign. People seemed happier and more upbeat. And then the other really amazing thing every time we had been in court in the public line handing out the tickets for the public spectators, every time we have been in line for oral arguments in oral decision days those tickets were bright orange. That morning they handed out the tickets and we are all still chatting and i looked down at the ticket and i noticed someone something nobody had remarked on. I held up the ticket and i said you notice anything different . The tippet the tickets that they were lavender. What better sign. It had been orange every single time. That morning they were lavender. So we all thought it may be a sign. Okay so are you inside . I was inside and after standing in line getting the tickets they let us into the courthouse where we kill some time killing some more. We edited the entered the courtroom and were seated. The chief justice said Justice Kennedy will read the first decision. And they read the case number and i had only memorized at the day before. With a case number came out i jumped in my seeking my noise squeaked and made some kind of noise. I was sitting behind friends and i grabbed their hands and im happy to report they still have their fingers. In Justice Kennedy started to read his decision in my first reaction was that we won well, i think we did. He read more, i thought we won event well im not really positive yet. And then it sunk in that we did actually win. I just burst into tears. All of round the courtroom you could hear and see people crying. There was this amazing electric feeling of joy and happiness. For me there is this wonderful moment of, perhaps for the first time in my adult life, of being honest with myself about who i am and honest with others, in that part of my life is the first time i felt truly like an american. To hear the Supreme Court justice say you know what john, jim, joe, rob they are here, all of the other plaintiffs in this case, theyre more than 30, you all do matter. Your relationships matter. Your children matter. I felt like part of we the people. I felt more american at that moment i felt more american at that moment that i ever had in my adult life. [applause]. Not only that but Justice Kennedy essentially referred to you in his writing. He he read no union is more profound in marriage than it embodies the high so i do of love, sacrifice and family. In forming a Marital Union to people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate marriage embodies the love that may endure even past death. So that was unquestionably you. Yes. And also david jane joined our case in ohio. He and his husband have been together for years, they they have three adopted children and they had married earlier in the summer. His husband died unexpectedly. So there is another way to were there with me as part of this fight to say, our husbands death certificates deserve to be accurate. Wonderful. So lets talk a little bit about what happened then. It was interesting coming out of the courtroom. You. You cannot get out because there were crowds. Describe what that was like. I was there, our attorney was there, james with the aclu, douglas and mary who argued the cases. The case in court. They were there and there were other plaintiffs there. We there. We all gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom. We were getting ready to exit the building and go down the stairs and in my mind i am just picturing all of those landmark cases, all of the important cases when you see this image of the plaintiff or plaintiffs walking down the steps, those iconic photos. In my mind im thinking, i get to do this. This this is really going to happen. Suddenly all of the Police Officers went running down the building and to the front steps. Nobody said anything. So we started heading that way and another officer said, im sorry you cannot exit that way. You that way. You have to exit out the side of the building. And i felt disappointed. I felt but i want to walk down the stairs. In that moment i felt kind of selfish thinking that. But it was one of those images, those rights that kind of go at that building and with these cases. But we exit the side of the building and the reason is because the crowd push ward pass the barricades and they were on the steps of the building. There is such a sense of celebration out there. People push their way forward. So for safety sake they did not want us walking down the steps in the midst of a big crowd. We exited exited the building and were on the sidewalk. Then we walked on the plaza and our attorney and i are leading the group and were going to the crowd and i didnt really realize this, debbie is one who pointed it out as you lead the group to they split before you like the red sea i think back to that and i can see it i just it realize it at the moment. Walking through that crown this palpable sense of joy on the plaza and to see the tears, and the faces on all those people its one of the Beautiful Moments of my life. I realized in that moment that im glad i didnt get to go down the steps. Because maybe i would not have had this experience. This experience is better because in the midst of these people because the 30 plus plaintiffs ni, we did this for everyone. We did not do it for us. I got to celebrate with everyone. I will never feel bad about not having that iconic photo of walking down the steps. I would give it back for that experience over and over. Wonderful. So lets talk to debbie for a minute or two. I want to catch everyone up. So you had you had been working with jim and following jim for several months before the Marriage Equality decision. Right. So you are recording the book and writing while it was happening. Rights. So i like millions of people read about jim story and john story in the Washington Post where i work. I knew i wanted to tell the story. I knew knew i wanted to write the book. So i immediately took a not paid leave of absence from my job at the Washington Post to help write this book. So that happened even before the Supreme Court decision in june. I did this in april because whichever way it went i knew this this was a story i wanted to tell. Clear up how you know each other. You actually go back 20 years. John and jim were actually at my wedding 25 years ago. I remember that like yesterday. We were in touch off and on through the years through family. I last saw john at a family event in 2011 right before he was diagnosed with als. Where you related to john through marriage . Through marriage, yes. When he talked in another interview about how you talk to jim on the phone you set i have this agent who is writing a book and i said well great, i dont how you get his phone number. And presented it to him. We were in touch off and on. John john and jim were in ohio, cincinnati and i lived in different states working for different newspapers. We are in touch off and on. I have been thinking for years about writing a book. Every journalist. Every journalist wants to write a book. And i got the Washington Post going from investigation to investigation. I wrote lots of stories about government corruption and fraud in bad people doing bad things. This was a completely different thing. This was a is a story about love, commitment and family. I was moved by it that i knew this was a book i wanted to write. So i get to the airport and,. Feeling high. Feeling high and actually when i got to the gate and was using one of those tables where you can plug in and charge your phone, i was there and next to me a woman turned to me and said congratulations. And then, delayed. [laughter] delayed. Delayed. And a little bit after 1 00 a. M. U. S. Air canceled the flight. And i am frantic. I am so upset because all i can think is all i want to get home home to do is get home to cincinnati and celebrate with my friends, my family, my neighbors and my fellow cincinnatians and im just devastated. Im so upset and i had been doing a lot of things with the Human Rights Campaign and they were such a help. They were trying to figure out who they hire a car to get me home . Could they get me on the train . Could they find any other flight and they work some magic and found a flight for me the next morning. So at 1 30 a. M. I took a cab back to the city and slept for an hour and a half. Maybe i slept, i dont know and then i took a taxi to dulles and flew home. I got back in plenty of time to go to michaud condo take a shower, get dressed and go to the parade. You soldiered on. I did. I had to be there. It was just a definitive. Everyone across the country was celebrating. I hear over and over again about people just congregated in bars and in homes on plaza west, champagne popping all across the country. All i could think was im missing it. But thats okay. So i got to the pride parade and i finished the parade and went to another airport in cincinnati and flew to San Francisco and i was in the San Francisco pride. The next day and i have to tell you that was the moment that was really tough emotionally. I cried the entire parade route and i cried as as i was going down the streets with about a Million People lining the streets, so many of the people i passed on the sidewalk words a generation older than me, the generation who lost almost all of their friends to aids and to see the tears on their faces and to realize what they had lost and to know that they are thinking, i wish this friend, this spread, this friend, my partner, at which all those people could see this. That was the most emotional moment for me, seeing those tears. And i heard over and over that day from people in San Francisco. They said, you have no idea how different this pride parade is. Its more real, its more honest, its more emotional and i heard that over and over and over. Wonderful. Really and truly something you celebrate. Just last year. Hard to believe. Lets talk about beer because there has been a lot of, there has been a lot of a lot of joy and theres also been a lot of tough times. The antilgbt contingency in this country is determined to make things difficult for us. They seemed very angry that we won marriage and its coming out in these horrible religious freedom bills in mississippi and of course North Carolina and elsewhere and i would just like to get your take on those. Its distressing, disappointing and zero so saddening to know that, to realize that people in our country just seem incapable of letting go, moving forward and really embracing what it means to be part of we the people and to be an american. I think we all expected some backlash to the Marriage Equality ruling. Im just devastated at how vicious it has been. I think of the opponents of Marriage Equality and lgbtq equality in general and i know what it is. They look at Marriage Equality and they look at changing attitudes and they realize that they are losing the fight when it comes to the lgb part of the lgbtq community. Forward ever reason these people need a group, they need someone to blame, someone to hate and unfortunately they see that they are losing ground with the lgbt part so they are targeting the most vulnerable part of our community, our transgender family and its disgusting and its frightening that people are using these hateful laws to target a group to try to hold onto the past instead of moving towards the future. Its awful. You have met a lot of transgender people over the last year over your journey. I will say i always talk about how i think of what harvey milk said. He said come out and share your story because thats how we change hearts and minds and when it comes to the Transgender Community i can say honestly a little over a year ago i had no transgender friends, at least none that i knew specifically and i am not alone in that. I imparted the Lgbt Community but i was ignorant about what it means to be transgender. I was ignorant about what their lives are like and i have learned so much over the past year. Its because i have opened myself to that. I have learned. I have met transgender people. I have become their friend. They have become my friend. It has changed my perspective. It is changed my attitudes. It is change so much about me and im thankful that i met them because if i hadnt im afraid i would still be under a lot of misconceptions that many other americans are in a constant education. It comes down to meeting people who are different than you are and understanding we are no different. We are the same. We want the same things. We want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so i feel fortunate that i have been able to grow in that respect and im thankful for those friends. I will keep fighting for them and i will keep talking about their right to live their lives without fearing for their lives. Unfortunately after this weekend , we are all there. An incredible year. Its incredible what we are seeing with this topsyturvy election and all these issues that are coming out all at the same time, trends. You endorse hillary. It while ago. In the fall. How are you feeling about how hillary is handling everything now . I couldnt be more proud of hillary as a leader, as a person and as the presumptive nominee for president. I look at the presumptive nominee on the g. O. P. Side and all i see is hate. All i see is people who arent like us are less than us and that is not what im about. That isnt the way any of you in this room are about. It frightens me and it saddens me because that is not america, at least not the america i believe in. Every action that he makes seems to show how limited his scope is. Im sure i will talk about it for another hour but his tweet yesterday but. I called it. Bernie would never do anything like that. Never. Anyhow. Maybe its a good time to open up for questions and i wanted to know that cspan is here tonight. They are filming us so there is a boom thats going to be going around. If you want to ask a question and jim or debbie, just wait and we will bring you the mic. Actually its a good moment to have a question for debbie because theres a little bit more than jim and the book. A lot more. I want you to talk about the onto the other plaintiffs that you wrote about in the story. Early on i knew i wanted to tell a story and there were fascinating and very compelling plaintiffs and local civil rights lawyers said we wanted to bring into this story. Joe and aubrey and their son cooper is the youngest named in the case and i believe he was too at the time. We wanted to tell their stories too so while jim and john story is woven throughout the book we really wanted to bring in the civil rights attorney from cincinnati who really helped with this case and the other attorneys and plaintiffs. Because it wasnt just about death certificates, it was also about Root Certificates and couples who couldnt get birth certificates for their children. It really surprised me that someone on the sidelines come i wasnt really into the politics of. Just as a human being and as a mother to know samesex couples went to the trouble of adopting or having children and were denied accurate birth certificates. One parent was listed and the other was a legal stranger and i just found that so completely outrageous as a human being and as a mother so i really really wanted to take the time to weep those stories into the book as well. In fact that was the best suggestion that debbie had because i thought from the start know and i try to always say this. It wasnt just about john and me. It was so much bigger than the two of us and from the start debbie said we have to tell the bigger story, so it is other plaintiffs, its attorneys and the city of cincinnati. Cincinnati has changed so dramatically over the past 20 years. In fact two of the most compelling plaintiffs we think in the book are the sitting federal judges, to sitting federal judges went on the record to talk to me and describe their experiences. One is on the sixth Circuit Court of appeal and she wrote a scathing dissent supporting Marriage Equality and it was a dissent red around the world. She kind of broke protocol to talk to me about why she wrote that and how she felt in the roping room after oral arguments in the sixth circuit. It was really a fascinating inside look and i was so happy to get them to be in the book. Who is going to kick it off . The first question for jim or debbie. I didnt cover everything. You talked about the Bigger Picture and i havent read the book but had the decision gone the other way it would have impacted on your book but what is the Bigger Picture and how much of a problem was it . I guess i wasnt thinking the decision would go the other way. I dont think anybody was. I saw this book right away as a love story and a legal thriller, not a history book, not a book based on politics. Its not going back into the history of gay writes. Other books have done that and they have done it very well. This is a book about people in the book about families in the book about love and what husbands or spouses do to protect each other, what parents do to protect their children and its a Human Interest story. I was just so moved and inspired by the people i met. Not just the plaintiffs that these scrappy civil rights lawyers they came together, a couple of them had never filed a civil rights case federal court before. Al gerhardt the lead attorney, john and jims attorney had done this for 35 years but the others hadnt and they pull together because it was the right thing to do. In fact they pulled together to file these cases even when they were warned that maybe these werent the right cases to move up to the Supreme Court and the sixth Circuit Court of appeals is a conservative, very conservative circuit and there were other more sympathetic judges. So they did it because they had clients who have a need. They need to birth certificates. They needed death certificates and thats just what they wanted to do. Regardless they did it without pay and not knowing would happen. That was the right thing to do and i found the lawyers in particular to be so compelling as people and as characters in the book. Another question. This isnt a question as much as it is an observation. I dont know if any of you know today is Southern States governor established lgbt pride month in the state of louisiana and that probably would not have happened without the work that you all have done. Louisiana of all states especially your go with that other governor who was there, its a good moment for america. Thank you for sharing that especially with everything thats going on we need those bright lights. We need those moments when we can say okay there are still good people and good things so thank you for sharing that. Jim waddell said youve been doing over the last year . How much of a pin in cincinnati and how much of you been traveling . When im not traveling i split my time between d. C. And i will be moving to d. C. Full time. And i think on average over the past year i have spent a total of maybe seven nights a month in either of my two beds. So my time has been spent speaking engagements, attending events, doing advocacy work, have been speaking have kept me really busy. This is the beginning of your book tour. The book comes out tomorrow, everyone should know, love wins out tomorrow and you will be at the smithsonian later this week. On wednesday. Nena totenberg will be interviewing the two of us. At the smithsonian. She is good. [laughter] she is. So jim you have been doing speaking events for the last several months. I know a little bit about what it takes to put a book out and i mean a year from the Supreme Court decision, it probably seems like incredible. What was that like for you . Thats a great question. It was a labor of love. It just was. I enjoyed almost every minute of it. You know, we knew we wanted to publish before the oneyear anniversary around the time of the oneyear anniversary and i started writing a chapter reporting writing and traveling and writing a chapter every week, every single week for about six months to get this book done. You know, it was a journey but i actually miss the writing process. I honestly loved every minute of it, really. From one writer to another how did you find the discipline . Helps to have a journalist write a book because im so used to deadlines. I spend 25 years living under deadline pressure. I think the scariest part of writing the book was i had to do it so quickly and i wouldnt ask and want to admit this because my editor is sitting in the audience but there were times when i didnt know where the next chapter was going to go and if i had all the materials for the next chapter. Honestly when you are working with a story like this, if in some ways tells itself. It just does. The people in this book gem and of course john and joe and rob and the other characters and probably al gerhardt who is one of the main characters in the book. He grew up on a chicken farm outside of cleveland. He went to nyu won a scholarship, came back to cincinnati even though he could find anywhere and made millions of dollars. He wanted to fight for people who were disenfranchised. He is a very compelling man and their stories really inspired me as a human being to the point where i want to write different stories moving forward. Not so much about that people in government corruption and fraud but stories like this. Public housing scandals. Scenic those stories need to be written, they really did but this is completely different thing and its heard on a personal basis. Along with millions of other people. Id be interested in hearing from both of you your reaction to particularly Justice Scalia and many of the other justices who were clearly in opposition to the decision that was ultimately rendered. I think for me it comes down to disappointment and this was throughout the sixth circuit, the Supreme Court. The Common Threads were well lets just wait and see. Waiting to see isnt the right thing to do when peoples lives and peoples civil rights are involved so the fact that is the common theme, lets just wait and see what happens because attitudes are changing. Courts exist to protect their rights and we shouldnt have to wait a year, a decade, century for those rights to be upheld, to be recognized. The other thing was the whole concept of well should the people be able to vote on this . Why are we allowing a court to do this . Shouldnt this be done through the legislative process . Should it be done statebystate and i will always go back and remember one of the things out your heart set in our very first hearing. He said the surest way and im paraphrasing, the surest way to deny and minority their rights as to allow the majority to vote on it. So for me it seemed, it seemed counterintuitive to me. It seemed counter to the purpose and the role of our court system for those justices to say that. I think for me, i think was so brilliant about this case looking outside in is that the lawyers were able to identify such a tangible technical problem these families were struggling with. You know Marriage Equality, i get it and samesex marriage, i get it but these are couples who couldnt get birth certificates or death certificates. They were married in one place that their marriage didnt transfer across state lines. How is that possible and how can we deny families these kinds of things . There are so many problems i find as a journalist. Children who are growing up in poverty and schools in dysfunctional families and all kinds of problems and here we are denying these couples these basic rights. That is what spoke to me and i think hearing justices say lets wait on the democratic process. The constitution does trump the democratic process and that was the point of this case. Just the over reliance on while you are trying to change the definition of a word that has moved existed for millennia and my favorite rebuttal when that came out in the court during oral arguments and i believe it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg he said this, she said we have already change the definition of marriage. Women are no longer the property of their husbands so marriage has changed. That was just another tired argument that made no sense to me. No one person, no one group, no one tradition owns the definition of marriage. Its a civil liberty, to civil rights and that to me was just a very tired pointless argument. So what is next for you . Well, i will say the best thing that has come out of this experience for me is the realization that i have to be involved with something thats bigger, something thats more important than i am. John and i were activists. We signed the checks. It was her brand of activism and to find ourselves in this spot where we have the ability to really say this is what matters to us and this is what we stand for and to know that has had such an enormous impact not just on the two of us who are than 30 of us who went to the Supreme Court but on our nation and on the rest of the world. I have to be part of things like that Going Forward and so for me what comes next is continuing to be an advocate, continuing to be an activist, to speak up for the people who cant speak up or are afraid to speak up and to fight for everyone in our country who feels less than, who feels denied their basic worth as a person and for me thats a fight that will continue. Its not just for the Lgbt Community comments for every single american so we can all wake up, grow up feeling safe, loved and able to be who we are without fear and without apology we have work to do and i will be part of that as long as i need to be. So for me thats been the best possible outcome of this, the best personal growth that i could have asked for. [applause] i did have one more question. There is going to be a movie. Tell us a little bit about that. Even before the book was written it was auctioned. Thank you very much. Leap of faith i think on the part of 20th century fox and temple hill productions but the screenplay is being written now by a very prominent talented screenwriter in hollywood and fingers crossed that things keep moving forward. Wonderful. Its very exciting. Any last questions . Who would you like to play you in a movie . [laughter] i get this question all the time and it is such an odd thing to think about. Its a really concept to ponder and so you know most importantly i want it to be an act or who are both of us, i wanted to be actors who are the best actors possible and bring life to our characters and are committed to doing the best job possible. Thats what matters to me. If im going to be completely shallow, because this is my opportunity to have someone portray me on a big screen, of course i want to be hot. [laughter] so mad bomber. I wouldnt turn that down. Perfect. Perfect choice. [laughter] well thank you all for being here tonight. [applause] [applause] i would like to say just one more thing. Love wins, the title of our book and that concept that love wins, theres never been a more important time for our community, for our nation to cling to that and to believe in that. Love wins. Love will always win over hate. And for me, being here and talking about this book and talking about my story is an incredibly emotional thing to be doing with what has happened in our country. And i just ask you to think about that, think about this book and remember love does when when love does win and thats the most important story in the most important concept in if we cant teach that to our children if we cant teach that to her neighbors, to our friends, to strangers by the way we behave and by our actions and what we say then we are lost as a country. Love wins. Take it to heart and listen. Thank you. [applause] [applause] i believe the bar is still open. [laughter] and its closing. Please remember the traditional gift for a First Anniversary is paper and a great way to celebrate the First Anniversary of freedom to marry would be to take home a signed copy of love wins, writer for there. Thanks. [applause] you are watching booktv on cspan2, television for serious readers. Heres a look at our primetime lineup for tonight. We will kick off the evening at 6 45 p. M. Eastern time with hal scott. His book is called connectedness and contagion and its on the Financial System of the united states. At 8 00 p. M. Duly sworn in my brain of Congress Carla Hayden sits down with booktv to discuss her life and career and at 8 45 p. M. Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg reflects on her time on the high