RayShawn Chandler woke up Friday morning with a burst of energy hours before she usually does.
“I looked out the window and it was a beautiful day, and I said something was gonna happen today, and look what happened,” she says.
Chandler, along with her wife Avery, are plaintiffs in Georgia’s federal class action lawsuit challenging the state’s 2004 same-sex marriage ban. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court striking down marriage bans nationwide together because Avery is a soldier in the U.S. Army deployed at an undisclosed location.
But the timing of the decision couldn’t have been better—today is the couple’s second wedding anniversary, following their marriage in Connecticut in 2013. The couple Skyped with each other a few minutes after the decision came out.
“She just stated that she was really happy and excited and she wished she could be here to celebrate with me on what’s two good occasions now,” RayShawn says.
But the first person to call her was her mother, who told her, “I always told you that you could do anything that you wanted to do and be anything that you wanted to be and I’m so happy for Avery and you.”
RayShawn starts crying as she says, “To hear that from your mom who at some point you went through some struggles with, to have that first call be your parent…it was wonderful.”
Avery will be home for good in a few weeks as this is her final deployment, and it’s another bit of good timing as the couple are expecting, with RayShawn due in December.
“We are excited about that,” RayShawn says. “We’re returning to life as normal.”
From the evening of April 22, 2014 when the lawsuit was filed: