We've seen plenty of fabulous profile photos since marriage equality passed on Friday, but our friend and occasional contributor Katie Boyden's is absolutely priceless. We asked Katie if we could share her photo, and she also offered her personal story of coming out in the age of the marriage equality fight. Below is her story, but first, please take in the gloriously over-the-top spirit of PRIDE she exudes in her photo: 

Nine years ago I fell in love for the first time. Eight years ago I came out to my family and friends, and was so lucky to have their love and support, but knew that my life, and my place in this country and this world, would be forever altered. I threw myself into learning and studying and devouring knowledge and information and history about the LGBT movement as fast as I could. I couldn't believe no one had taught this in school before--it was a movement that was completely unknown to me. 



Seven years ago I cried with joy on November 6, 2008 as Obama assumed the Presidency, holding a glass of champagne and my first girlfriend's hand in our friend's apartment at UCLA--overwhelmed with the progress and history in the making that night. But as he stepped to the podium surrounded by confetti, we saw the scrolling headline across the bottom of the screen: "Proposition 8 passing in California," and were crushed. We had spent months campaigning against Prop 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California, and to see the majority of my state so firmly against my rights and my community was devastating. It was a sobering wake-up call that we still had a long way to go. The next night, we took to the streets of West Hollywood and marched all the way down Sunset. A reporter interviewed me and I was quoted on the news expressing my disbelief and sadness. It was a night that I'll never forget.

Then, in the summer of 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker wrote an incredible, rock solid piece of logic in his opinion overturning Prop 8. A year later, after the California court upheld an appeal on Walker's opinion on Prop 8, my girlfriend and I marched in yet another protest in Downtown LA.  The tone had changed; we weren't sure we would ever win this fight. Four years later in 2013, on this exact day, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, and now, nearly a decade after my giddy, terrified, 21-year-old self fell in love and wondered what this would mean for the rest of my life, we have achieved full marriage equality in the United States. 



Over the past nine years, I've tried my best to advocate for rights, to be a voice in my writing and filmmaking, and to be a visible part of this incredible community that has been like a second family.

Last Friday, the day that marriage passed, the same girl I met a decade ago, and who is now one of my best friends, woke me up with an elated, breathless phone call with the news. And then I saw my phone, Instagram, and newsfeed explode in joyful posts and texts from my parents, family, and friends.



I know that not every LGBT person in America woke up today to a proud and happy family sending them messages of love and support, and that for many Americans who still live with hatred and homophobia and fear -- that their problems are far from over. Now more than ever, I am going to do everything I can to educate, inform, and, most importantly, teach compassion to those who don't yet understand.

To all of you still struggling to find acceptance in your families and worlds, I say this: your community, and now your COUNTRY, is on your side. Progress, and love, always wins.

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