Ten years after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, Jen Psaki reflected on her experience working inside the White House when that historic order came down and explained why she considers it one of her favorite days from her career in government.
Psaki, who at the time was serving as President Barack Obama’s White House communications director, described the weeks leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision as “incredibly special.”
“And part of the reason it was is because there was a young guy at the time named Jeff Tiller, who worked on the communications team, and he had this idea about lighting the White House in rainbow colors if the Supreme Court decided the right way,” Psaki said. “We didn’t know what they were going to do, but we obviously wanted to prepare for a range of scenarios.”
Psaki explained that Tiller was told to prepare a memo about his idea for the president and first lady Michelle Obama. After the Obamas approved, all the White House had to wait for was the final word from the justices.
“And then, of course, when the Supreme Court voted the right way, there are now these incredibly iconic photos [of] couples celebrating outside of the White House,” said Psaki, who described that day — June 26, 2015 — as “one of my favorite days of working in government, of all of my days of working in government.” Psaki said the story serves as proof that “ideas can come from all sorts of places,” which she argued was an especially important message in the nation’s current political climate: “And in this moment where we’re trying to fight for what’s right, and so many people are out there not sure if they should raise their hand, if they should put their ideas forward, if they should put themselves out there, that absolutely you should. Because sometimes your idea is going to be the one that maybe does a version of lighting the White House in rainbow colors.” You can watch Psaki’s full comments on that historic day in the video below.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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