Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality

In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, this definitive account reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. This is a story of law and love—and a promise made to a dying man who wanted to know how he would be remembered.

Twenty years ago, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur fell in love in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place where gays were routinely picked up by police and fired from their jobs. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had to provide married gay couples all the benefits offered to straight couples. Jim and John—who was dying from ALS—flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal. But back home, Ohio refused to recognize their union, or even list Jim’s name on John’s death certificate. Then they met Al Gerhardstein, a courageous attorney who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights and who now saw an opening for the cause that few others had before him.

This forceful and deeply affecting narrative—Part Erin Brockovich, part Milk, part Still Alice—chronicles how this grieving man and his lawyer, against overwhelming odds, introduced the most important gay rights case in U.S. history. It is an urgent and unforgettable account that will inspire readers for many years to come.

This intimate look inside one of America’s most important civil rights cases reveals:

• A Landmark Supreme Court Case: The dramatic, previously unreported events and insider accounts behind Obergefell v Hodges, the groundbreaking decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
• A Powerful Legal Battle: How a courageous civil rights lawyer, Al Gerhardstein, took on the state of Ohio after it refused to list Jim Obergefell as the surviving spouse on his dying husband’s death certificate.
• The Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights: A moving portrait of Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, whose twenty-year relationship was thrust into the national spotlight by John’s battle with ALS and their fight for dignity.
• A Story of Social Justice: The inspiring true account of the lovers, lawyers, and activists whose promise to a dying man changed the course of American history.