Last summer I was contacted by Lambda Legal, a large not for profit legal organization that defends the civil rights of gay, lesbian and transgendered people all around the united states. I covered their press conference in San Juan and took portraits of their clients who were filing law suits on the steps of the government building where the press conference was held. It was such a wonderful experience to work with such  a great organization and to meet the couples that were being brave enough to stand up for change. On March 20th, 2015 the government of Puerto Rico declared that it would no longer defend the ban on Same Sex marriage in Puerto Rico. Read the full story from Lambda Legal here.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal, said:

In declining to further defend the Commonwealth’s discriminatory marriage ban, Puerto Rico’s government finally recognizes that denying marriage to LGBT people is harmful and cannot be justified. The marriage ban’s sole purpose is to perpetuate discrimination, and it is just plain wrong. Same-sex couples, LGBT people and their families are part of Puerto Rico’s rich social and cultural fabric. Today’s actions fulfill the constitutional promises of justice and fairness for LGBT people in Puerto Rico. Simply put, discrimination is never in Puerto Rico’s best interests.

I feel so honored and excited to have been a part of this historic happening. Even though my photographs were only a very small part of the process of moving the island towards marriage equality if feels wonderful to have contributed to something so important to me. As a wedding photographer I get to make people happy by creating amazing photographs of them in love on their wedding day. I do this for both my gay and straight clients. Although getting to use my talents as a photographer to create portraits of brave couples that were used as part of a national campaign for marriage equality has been a truly rewarding experience. I can’t wait to photograph the wedding days of all loving couples when everyone is legally allowed to marry on the enchanted island of Puerto Rico. For more information about my photographic approach to LGBT weddings in Puerto Rico check out the LGBT wedding photography section of my website.