Grand Marshal
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Mackenzie who was born in 2003. Randy became the legal guardian of Mackenzie. In 2006, Paul met DeSean at the school where he was working and adopted him through the state rather than a private adoption agency.
Paul and Randy began to worry that if something were to happen to one of them, the other would not have legal rights to care for the child who was not his or her adopted parent. Although Paul and Randy legally married in Palm Springs, California in July 2008, Kentucky and many other states at the time refused to recognize valid marriages from other states. This was one of the motivating factors that prompted them to join other same-sex couples in the Bourke v. Beshear case against the state of Kentucky. Once Bourke reached the Supreme Court,
it
was consolidated with three other related cases pending before the Court from Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, which included Obergefell v. Hodges (the first of the four cases filed). Two main questions that the Supreme Court decided were:
1. Does the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause require a state to legally marry same sex couples?
2. Does the 14th Amendment require states to recognize valid marriages from other states?
Paul and Randy never expected to be part of the biggest
Supreme Court case of the year when they joined with the plaintiffs in Kentucky to challenge the state’s rejection of their valid out of state marriage. Family is extremely important to the couple and they knew that they had to fight for same-sex couples’ familial benefits. Sensitive to their children’s wishes, Paul and Randy had many discussions with their four children about the case and whether or not they were comfortable with it. Randy said that the support they have received from everyone, but especially from their children, was the most enriching part of their journey. Paul and Randy’s 20 year old son, Tevin, documented his journey and that of his two fathers on his Tumblr page, “Making History with My Two Dads.”
1991 Paul met Randy
1994 Began the adoption process to start their family
1995 Paul becomes guardian of Tevin and Tyler born in February.
2003 Randy becomes guardian of Mackenzie when she was born
2004 November 2 voters in Kentucky approve state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman
2006 Paul adopts DeSean
2008 June 17 California county clerks begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples
2008 Wedding bells rang in July and Paul and Randy legally married in Palm Springs, CA
2014 February 12, the Bourke v. Beshear decision issued and Judge Heyburn found that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions because withholding recognition violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
2014 November 6, The Sixth Circuit ruled 2–1 that Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriage does not violate the constitution.
2015 January 16, The U.S. Supreme Court consolidated cases Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee and agreed to review the case.
2015 April 28, The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in Obergefell v. Hodges and related cases
2015 June 26, The United States Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that because the fundamental right to marry extends to same-sex couples, same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision renders same-sex marriage legal throughout the entire United States.
2015 November 8, Johnson-Champion Family celebrated in Palm Springs as Grand Marshals of Pride Parade.
WWW.PSPRIDE.ORG • FRIEND US ON FACEBOOK:
FACEBOOK.COM/PALM SPRINGS.PRIDE
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