What the Decision on Same-Sex Marriage Means to One Texas Family

From Texas Standard:

The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling in favor of same-sex marriage today. All 50 states are now required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Ronald “Ronnie”Macklinand his partner, FritzJohnson-Macklin, are one of those couples. From the Austin suburb of Pflugerville, Ronnie joined Texas Standard to talk about his family’s story –  just minutes after learning about the Supreme Court decision.

“I adopted my daughter 11 years ago,” Macklin says. “And me and my partner, we never thought about what it meant to us because in our eyes, we were always married.”

“But my daughter saw something on television that affected her greatly,” Macklin says. “She always thought that we were married, and I had to explain to her that we weren’t.”

Their daughter Nikki was upset – and decided to do something about it. She wrote a speech with the help of her English teacher and decided to go to Capitol Hill.

“This is a wonderful day for her,” he says. “It didn’t matter to me, but it matters to me that it matters to her.” Nikki is now able to get benefits that only apply to children of married couples. But Macklin adds it’s also important to Nikki that now “she can say that her parents are married.”

And their daughter Nikki’s response to today’s Supreme Court ruling? “I was really excited. I started crying because I was happy,” Nikki says. “I will always remember this moment … my parents get to be married,” she says.

“They’ll have a better life… not worrying about the adoption things being difficult,” Nikki says.

“I feel vindicated now,” he continues. “I always had it in my mind to tell myself that I was normal, that I can do anything that everybody else wants to do. Now the law says I can do it.”