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Mississippi Pride Celebration 2015

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People celebrate together at the Pride event.

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What does the Supreme Court’s decision mean to you? “To me it means that the government is finally saying love is love,” Elena Voisin (right) said. “The biggest danger is that people will stop fighting for rights, the fight’s not over yet,” Elizabeth McNeel (left) said.

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“Change never comes easy in Mississippi,” Ryan Brown (right) said. “But it is coming, and everything that’s been happening with the flag and this decision…the winds of change are blowing and there is an energy in the air that I’m excited about,” Maggie Stevenson (left) said. “Young Mississippians could care less about marriage, and they don’t understand (why) that inequality (still exists),” Brown said.

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What does the Supreme Court’s decision mean to you? “Today means a great deal—now that I have the freedom to legally marry the person I love means a great deal to me,” AnDerecco Turner (right) said. “This is considered the white gay pride weekend, and a weekend in November is considered the black gay pride event. I would love to see both events merge,” Malcolm Dodd (left) said. “Even though there is a race problem…it’s joyful (here),” Turner said. “With the job thing though, we need to make sure the gays don’t lose jobs in Mississippi.”

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Deirdra Harris Glover is pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Jackson. “This is a fantastic day—one of those historical days that you can’t miss. I won’t miss celebrating, but we still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We have to keep following up with action because love is justice in action.”

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What was your reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision? “I woke up ecstatic. I thought it would come eventually, but I have a lot more optimism now,” Josh May (left) said. “I haven’t been able to do work all day, but I can’t…because this is better,” Greg Walker (middle) said. What are the next steps from here? “The next step is ENDA,” Isaac Specht (right) said. The ENDA is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would legally prohibit workplaces from discriminating against members of the LGBT community.

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Evelyn Clay (left) and her partner, Cathy James (right), have been together four years and plan to get married now. Clay was at home with her daughter’s family when the Supreme Court decision came out. “I was at home with my daughter and her wife and three children, and it was just serendipity that they were in our house,” Clay said. “(We need) laws that definitely state that you can’t discriminate—it makes me sad that Mississippi was named as one of those states that does.” Are you getting married soon? “We’re working on it,” Clay said showing off her new engagement ring. “I wanted to get married in Mississippi, so now I can.”

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Precious Jim (left), Lacey Willis (middle) and Shaunicka Nickey (right) came to the event together. “I think they should have done it a long time ago, but I think it will bring people closer. Married people will get full benefits now, which is better than it used to be,” Willis said. “It will finally let people be themselves, anywhere,” Nickey said.

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What was your reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling? “I’m happy and surprised because I didn’t expect it (the decision). I am happy that everyone can have equal rights—this is a good first step,” Olivia Coté (left) said. “I didn’t expect it to happen this soon and even if it takes equality thrust upon Mississippi it will become the new normal. Years from now people won’t event know what the issue was,” Lauren Coe (right) said.

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Soul is the owner of Soul Wired Café and said that it was hard to be excited in the midst of the Charleston massacre. “My excitement is dim because I’m an angry black woman. It’s hard to be excited when people can walk into churches and kill people. This is a step for protecting rights of all humans—but until rules are put in place to eliminate hate, I can fear for my life at any second,” she said. “We don’t talk about things—it’s an insult for me to see a Confederate flag. It would be like Jews in Germany seeing the Nazi symbol, the swastika, after the war. It’s mentally draining for me to look up and see a Confederate flag.”

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Nathan Edwards (left) and Ray Welborn (right) pose at the PRIDE event outside the Mississippi Museum of Art. “It’s a huge improvement and a huge step for us, but ultimately we didn’t make the decision,” Edwards said. “(The decision) doesn’t eliminate hatred—that’s in people’s hearts, and you can’t change that.”

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