Oregon marks 10 years of marriage equality, celebrates landmark case

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- This Sunday marks 10 years since marriage equality was legalized in Oregon.

The landmark case tried before a district judge in Lane County ensured equal protection for all Oregonians regardless of their gender.

Geiger vs Kitzhaber was a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon that requires the state to recognize same-gender marriages legally.

Oregon followed both Washington and California's legalization making it the last state on the West Coast to do so.

Attorney Lake Perriguey represented the first lesbian couple to be legally married in the state in the landmark case 10 years ago, KOIN 6 News spoke with with him to talk about a decade's worth of LGBTQ history.

"It does feel as though it's been about a week, although the excitement and adrenaline and all those early marriages, that's not happening as much now it's just been woven into the fabric of the state in terms of equal rights," Perriguey said.

Minutes after the ruling, Janine Nelson and Deanna Geiger, the plaintiffs in the case became the first lesbian couple to legally get married in Oregon.

Perriguey says they are still together today celebrating their "official" ten-year anniversary on Sunday.

He also said that Ellen Rosenblum was the first attorney general in the nation to show up to the trial and be involved in the court proceedings.

In June 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.