LUBBOCK, Texas -
The Supreme Court issued its landmark 5-4 decision protecting and authorizing gay marriage across the nation June 26, 2015. It didn't just allow gay couples to marry in every state-- it also forced all states to recognize other states' issued marriage licenses.
A Lubbock pastor, Reverend Tony Thieman-Somora, and his husband Tony were married in a church in Iowa 10 years ago; then, they were given a license in Indiana seven years ago; and when they moved to Lubbock shortly after, they were no longer married due to the state's enforcement of traditional marriage. The Reverend said he couldn't even hyphenate his name on his driver's license because the marriage wasn't recognized.
Somora said that day changed everything.
"It was definitely that joy, that exhilaration, that feeling of 'we can't believe this has finally happened," he said, "and now we're legal everywhere and forever."
The Reverend and his husband Somora agreed that, during their time in Lubbock leading up to the decision, they had only heard stories about discrimination against LGBT people in our area, but didn't experience any themselves.
"It was almost like the people of Lubbock were waiting for this to happen," Somora said. "It was almost like... 'well, why don't we just... Join the rest of the country in accepting these people for who they are and what they are?'"
It took Lubbock County ten days to begin issuing marriage licenses in 2015. The first gay marriage license in the county went to a lesbian couple, Connie Garcia and Crystal Stodgehill.
