10 years of marriage equality; Couples reflect on progress and setbacks king5.com
Same-sex couples say so much has changed since marriage equality became the law of the land in 2015, and yet, some are worried about what the future could hold. Same-sex couples say so much has changed, and yet, some are worried about their future. 
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Author: Sharon Yoo Published: 7:57 AM PDT June 26, 2025 Updated: 6:56 PM PDT June 26, 2025 
SEATTLE — June 26, 2025, marked 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal across the nation. For many LGBTQ+ couples, the journey to the altar has always been about more than the wedding.
Andi Blija and Sprague Minger do not have much time. With their wedding day fast approaching, they had venues to book, invites to design. They had to close the circle on a very important conversation.
“Fingers crossed for my parents next week,” Minger said. “I did tell them I was engaged, and they didn’t reject me. It’s been difficult for them, as older people, to accept their son is gay.”
Minger said he hasn’t told his parents that he and his husband, Blija, got married in November 2024.
“We just had a lovely ceremony here in our living room,” Blija said. “Short and sweet.”
Their ceremony was indeed a quick one. One of their friends captured their ceremony on video. It’s a little over 10 minutes long. Their reasoning for the flash wedding was part practical, part political.
“Health insurance, and taxes, and selling houses,” Minger said. “The election tipped the scale on that.”
“The part that made me go, ‘Oh,’ was Roe v. Wade,” Blija said. “The part of women’s rights we thought was locked solid. So I kind of look at what happened recently and go, ‘Okay, I feel like we made the right move at the time we needed to.’”
A piece of paper that binds them together may now protect them.
That right, is what husbands Terry Gilbert and Paul Beppler fought for. In 2012, Washington’s marriage equality law was ultimately upheld by a voter-approved referendum, making Washington, along with Maine and Maryland, one of the only states where voters directly weighed in on the issue.
Paul and Terry were one of the first couples to be married legally at Seattle City Hall in 2012.
“The offices opened at midnight, there were lines, reporters there, lots of people – it was an event,” Beppler said about the night people lined up to purchase marriage licenses. “Everybody was just so excited, it means so much to them.”
This eventually paved the way for federal legalization in 2015, allowing same-sex couples to enjoy over 1,100 federal benefits and responsibilities that come with being officially married.
“When you’re married, then you get things like in the tax code, things in inheritance, things like medical systems,” Gilbert said.
Public support for same-sex marriage has more than doubled over the past two decades. From 31% support in 2004 to 55% in 2015, it is now around 67% approval, according to Pew Research.
Wedding planner Cindy Savage said she sees the difference.
“In 2015, most of my queer clients didn’t have parents in attendance, most of them didn’t have family in attendance, and that’s for exactly the reason you think,” Savage said. “They’re homophobic. But what I’ve noticed in the last ten years, more and more parents are attending. Parents are attending very enthusiastically.”
Ultimately that’s the hope for Blija and Minger.
“I want to show my appreciation to all the people that were there to support me and love me through all the times I’ve had in my life,” Blija said. “It’s a celebration for us, but I also get to celebrate with everyone I love.”
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