(SAN FRANCISCO) — Prosecutors played the 911 call Paul Pelosi made the night he was violently attacked in his and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home in court on Wednesday, as they presented new evidence while arguing to have the case go to trial.
In the ongoing hearing in San Francisco Superior Court Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors first submitted the 911 call Paul Pelosi made after authorities say David DePape broke into the couple’s home early on Oct. 28.
“Are the Capitol police around? I got a problem. A gentleman just came into my house, waiting for my wife to come home,” Paul Pelosi could be heard saying on the call.
When the operator asked for his name, he responded,” “Paul Pelosi. He told me to put down the phone.”
“What is his name?” the operator asked.
Another man could then be heard shouting into the speakerphone, “David DePape.”
DePape, 42, from Richmond, California, is facing multiple state charges, including attempted murder, residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, for allegedly attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home.
In addition to the 911 call, prosecutors showed body-camera footage from the responding officers for the first time and presented the hammer they said was used in the attack.
One of the officers who responded testified that DePape was rambling about lying Democrats, while an investigator who took the stand said she interviewed Paul Pelosi after the attack, during which he said DePape woke him up, asking, “Where’s Nancy?”
During an arraignment last month, DePape pleaded not guilty to the charges through his public defender and denied all allegations.
DePape also faces federal charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty to those charges last month and remains held without bail.
According to the federal complaint, DePape allegedly used a hammer to break into the Pelosi residence in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco just before 2 a.m. local time on Oct. 28. The intruder then went upstairs, where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was asleep, and demanded to talk to “Nancy,” according to the complaint.
Paul Pelosi reportedly told DePape that he needed to use the bathroom, allowing him to get his cellphone and call 911. Two police officers arrived minutes later and entered the home, encountering DePape and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer, police said. The officers told the men to drop the hammer, at which time DePape allegedly gained control of the hammer and swung it, striking Paul Pelosi in the head.
Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, though he is expected to make a full recovery, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson said following the attack.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department announced a landmark civil rights settlement Wednesday with the city of Hesperia, California, and its sheriff’s department over allegations they illegally discriminated against Black and Latino renters.
Under the terms of the settlement, which requires final sign off from a federal judge, the city and sheriff’s department must pay nearly $1 million and fully repeal a crime-free housing ordinance that mandates landlords to evict those who police reported had been involved in criminal activity, even if the offense was minor or if it didn’t result in formal charges, an arrest or conviction.
An analysis by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that under such programs, Black renters are almost four times more likely to be evicted and Latino renters are 29% more likely to be evicted than white renters.
The agreement is the first-ever settlement for the Justice Department in a case challenging such an ordinance under the federal Fair Housing Act and could put on notice the approximately 2,000 other communities around the country who have enacted similar forms of ‘crime-free’ programs, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
The Justice Department first sued the city in 2019 over the ordinance, singling out comments by one city councilmember who said it was necessary to correct a “demographical problem” in Hesperia as its Black and Latino populations were increasing. Another council member was quoted saying its purpose was to get landlords to remove “blight” from their rental units and compared it to calling in an exterminator to kill roaches.
Under the agreement, the city and sheriff’s department will agree to pay $950,000, with the bulk of the settlement — $670,000 — going to those who reported harm from the ordinance.
Other funds will go toward the payment of civil penalties, funding for affirmative marketing to promote fair housing in Hesperia; funding for partnerships with community-based organizations, and more, according to the DOJ.
In a call with reporters Wednesday, Clarke described in stark detail the impact the policy had on members of the community.
“This meant evictions of entire families for conduct involving one tenant or even guests, or estranged family members,” Clarke said. “It meant evictions of the survivors of domestic violence. It meant evictions in the absence of concrete and real evidence of criminal activity.”
In one case, Clarke said, a Black woman living in the city called the police repeatedly to come to her home because she did not feel safe with her boyfriend. When the sheriff’s department notified the landlord about calls and threatened the landlord with a misdemeanor, the landlord forced the woman and her children out of their home and, unable to afford long-term stay in a local motel — the woman had to uproot her entire family and leave behind a house full of furniture to relocate across the country, Clarke said.
The consent order will remain in effect over the next five years as DOJ continues to monitor the city’s compliance, and the sheriff’s department will additionally be required to conduct anti-discrimination training for deputies and other staff who interact with the city’s residents.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — After just five days of testimony, the jury has begun deliberations in the murder trial of former Fort Worth, Texas, police officer Aaron Dean.
Dean is accused of fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, at her Fort Worth home.
Dean was responding to a call to check on Jefferson’s home on Oct. 12, 2019, around 2:30 a.m. because a door was left open to the house.
According to body camera footage and Dean’s testimony, he did not park near the home, knock at the door or announce police presence at any time while on the scene.
Dean testified that he suspected a burglary in progress due to the messiness inside the home. When Dean entered the backyard, body camera footage shows Dean looking into one of the windows of the home.
Jefferson and her now-11-year-old nephew, Zion, were playing video games when they heard a noise, according to Zion, who testified in the case. Jefferson grabbed her gun before approaching the window, Zion testified. Police officials have said Jefferson was within her rights to protect herself.
In body camera footage, Dean can be heard shouting, “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” and firing one shot through the window.
According to the prosecution, it was one minute and 17 seconds between when Dean arrived on the scene to when he fatally shot Jefferson. A forensics video expert testified that it was half a second between the start of Dean’s commands and when he shot Jefferson.
Dean resigned from the police department before his arrest. Fort Worth Chief of Police Ed Kraus has said Dean was about to be fired for allegedly violating multiple department policies.
For prosecutors, at the core of the trial were questions about whether Dean saw a gun in Jefferson’s hand, thought he was in a life or death situation or could have done something differently in the moments leading up to the shooting.
In closing statements, prosecutors focused on Jefferson’s innocence as a person defending her nephew and home.
“You can be in your own home, owning a weapon, owning a gun and you can protect yourself in your home. That’s one of the most fundamental rights. That’s the reason we all feel so safe,” said prosecutor Ashlea Deener. “Atatiana Jefferson didn’t commit any criminal acts by walking up to the window with her gun thinking someone was outside. It’s what many of us would do if we were in our house in the middle of the night in the back bedroom and we hear somebody outside.”
Defense attorney Bob Gill fought back against Deener’s claims in his closing arguments.
“She had those rights up until the moment she pointed the firearm at a Fort Worth police officer,” Gill said. “It’s a crime and it’s an unlawful act.”
Prosecutor Dale Smith responded by reminding the jury that Dean said on the stand that his actions that night were “bad police work” in a final statement to the jury. During his testimony, Dean agreed there were things he could have done differently.
Dean had testified that he did not tell his partner, officer Carol Darch, about a gun in the house until he found it inside. Darch had run into the home to help those inside, Darch and Dean testified.
“If there was a real threat inside that window, do you think he would have just sat by the window?” said Smith. “Do you think he might have pushed Darch out of the way, got back, retreated to another position? No, he’s standing there because he wasn’t sure what was on the other side where he just shot.”
“What officer would allow one of his partners to run into the house where they thought a burglary was happening without saying there’s a gun in there?” Smith continued.
Throughout the trial, the defense focused on Dean’s emotions and perception of danger.
Dean also testified on the stand in his own defense, describing the moments leading to the fatal shooting, as well as his thoughts during it.
(NEW YORK) — A woman and her son were killed after a tornado swept through a Louisiana town, officials said.
“A young boy was found deceased in a wooded area of Pecan Farms where his home was destroyed,” the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The boy’s mother was later found a street away from the family’s home in Keithville, Louisiana, officials said. She was “located under debris caused by a tornado,” according to a statement.
The victims were not identified.
The tornado was one of at least 13 that touched down in four states — Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi — overnight into Wednesday morning. At least five tornadoes were confirmed in north Texas.
More tornadoes were expected throughout the South on Wednesday, as the storm moves east.
First responders in Louisiana said they were continuing to search for other victims, although nobody else had been reported missing.
A man was also transported to a local hospital with injuries, officials said.
(NEWTON, Conn.) — Two days after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, then-President Barack Obama approached a podium to speak. Before him was a room of people in shock over what had occurred in their quiet Connecticut town.
On Dec. 14, 2012, a 20-year-old gunman walked into the school in Newtown and fatally shot 20 young students and six educators.
“Here in Newtown, I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation,” the president told the families and community members gathered.
Now, those precise words stand etched in stone, welcoming visitors to the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial, created in memory of those who lost their lives 10 years ago in the nation’s worst mass shooting at an elementary school.
The memorial took a decade to achieve, in part because of the meticulous process the memorial’s planning committee took to honor the victims and their families.
“We had one chance to get it right,” said Alan Martin, vice chairman of Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission. “So, we labored over the process of site selection and labored over the process of design selection. And we knew it had to be both a natural feeling, a gentle feeling, and it had to give people an opportunity to grieve.”
The memorial opened in November in advance of the anniversary. Planners and community leaders hope the site will commemorate the lives lost even as the debate over gun violence continues across the nation.
“We thought after Sandy Hook, this would make a difference in terms of responsible and reasonable gun control,” said Martin. “We really had hope that the world might change, the country might change.”
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, hundreds of temporary memorials sprung up all over town, flooding it with candles, flowers, teddy bears, toys and pictures. But town leaders decided the memorials couldn’t remain forever and decided to clear them by the end of 2013.
Recognizing the significance of those mementos, they chose to incinerate them into “sacred soil.” Today, that soil lives at the memorial beneath the plaque and granite stone marked with Obama’s words.
That year, the town’s council — known as the Board of Selectmen — decided to appoint a commission to figure out how best to design and build a permanent memorial to honor the lives lost. Twelve community members were appointed, including three parents who lost children, forming the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission.
Daniel Krauss, chairman of the commission, told ABC News the first question they were tasked with was, “Should a permanent memorial exist?”
After community conversations involving victims’ families, teachers, parents of students, paramedics and the general public, the answer was yes.
Krauss, along with the commission’s vice chairman Martin, said they tried to make decisions through consensus. Family input, Krauss said, was paramount but would not be the only aspect taken into consideration — they also needed a town vote to approve the $3.7 million project. Later, the State of Connecticut Bond Commission approved a $2.5 million grant which covered about 70% of costs.
After five years of site proposals and rejections, the trustees of the Boys Social and Athletic Club of Sandy Hook donated the current five-acre site, less than a mile away from the new Sandy Hook Elementary, which reopened in a brand-new building on the original property.
“You could hear them laughing and running and jumping,” Martin said, pointing out how close the memorial grounds are to the school’s playground. “When you hear the kids running…right through the trees, it’s amazing. And that’s part of the beauty of such a site.”
The commission selected a concept by Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo of SWA Design out of 188 submissions, determining that the designers’ concept fit in with their own. The planning guide stipulated “the memorial should not be physically imposing or ideologically overbearing, but through its simplicity should communicate the great depth of our loss.”
Affleck and Waldo envisioned a space that would grow with visitors over time, focusing on three primary features — a circle, path and tree — according to SWA. At the center of the memorial sits a granite basin with water, where a young sycamore was planted to symbolize the youth of children killed. Each victim’s name is engraved to the granite basin, where the water’s motions reflect a continuous energy between the living and the deceased. The paths surrounding allow visitors to choose their own route — symbolic for the journey of grief.
A mother of one of the victims visits daily, Martin said. Other family members of the victims attended the private dedication ceremony. And still, some are not comfortable visiting the memorial.
“We know some of the families would never come there,” said Martin. “Many will come here once, and many will come here whenever it is personal to them.”
Martin said the extensive process that led to the memorial holds lessons for communities in other places, such as Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two of their teachers were killed during a shooting at Robb Elementary School nearly seven months ago.
“We have gotten so many calls from people, from communities, that have had loss,” said Martin, “and people wanted to know our process. It was a slow, deliberate process. Every step of the way, we consulted with the families and we knew of sensitivity and deference.”
In Sandy Hook, as visitors depart the memorial on the same path they entered, they are once again reminded of the former president’s words from that Dec. 10 years ago: “I can only hope it helps for you to know that you’re not alone in your grief; that our world too has been torn apart; that all across this land of ours, we have wept with you.”
(WASHINGTON) — Survivors of last month’s Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will provide testimony on Wednesday at a House Oversight Committee hearing regarding anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, extremism and violence.
The hearing, according to organizers, will address the ways in which anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric is rising — and may be fueling a rise in violence against LGBTQ Americans.
This year, Pride events, drag shows, LGBTQ-friendly medical institutions and more have all become prominent targets of violence, threats and protests.
Michael Anderson, the only Club Q bartender to survive the shooting, is expected to speak at the hearing along with injured club patron James Slaugh and his boyfriend, Jancarlos Dell Valle, and Mark Slaugh, James Slaugh’s brother who was also at the club that night.
“From Colorado Springs to my own district in New York City, communities across the country are facing a terrifying rise of anti-LGBTQI+ violence and extremism,” House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
Maloney continued, “Make no mistake, the rise in anti-LGBTQI+ extremism and the despicable policies that Republicans at every level of government are advancing to attack the health and safety of LGBTQI+ people are harming the LGBTQI+ community and contributing to tragedies like what we saw at Club Q.”
More than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced at the state level in the last year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
The suspect accused of killing five people in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs is facing 305 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes. The suspect has not yet entered a plea.
Investigators and witnesses at the club have said the shooter opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q around midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue then tackled and subdued them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
The mass shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
(NEW YORK) — It was any mother’s worst nightmare. In April 2019, Kari Hoffmann witnessed a man toss her 5-year-old son over a third-floor balcony while shopping at a mall. As a result, her son suffered multiple life-threatening injuries including broken arms, a broken leg and skull fractures.
Three-and-a-half years later, after her son made a miraculous recovery, Hoffmann decided she was ready to share her story and spoke first to ABC News’ Good Morning America about the incident.
“I was frozen in time until I was able to speak, and now is the time that is right in our lives where we’ve done a lotta healing, where it’s time to move forward with the story of the miracle of Landen,” said Hoffmann.
Hoffmann had taken her son Landen and one of his friends to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. She said they had just completed a parent-teacher conference day and were looking for a way to “celebrate” when a stranger approached them.
“We were just looking at the alligator at the Rainforest Café, and a stranger came up and was whispering to these two little boys. And I thought that he was gonna turn this alligator on for them,” said Hoffmann. “He snatched [Landen] and ran. And I was just frozen … It happened so fast. I screamed, ‘No!’ after he was already thrown.”
“I don’t even remember running down the escalators, but I was screaming the whole time, ‘No, Landen’s not gonna die,'” she added.
She said the incident quickly drew a crowd. All Hoffmann asked of them was to “pray.”
“I don’t care who was looking. If they were looking, I asked them to pray,” she said. “He’s got a heartbeat. He was breathing. We got in the ambulance, and right before they shut the door, he opened his eyes for a second.”
Hoffmann said that Landen was immediately rushed into emergency brain trauma surgery. Relatives gathered while her son was on the operating table, and they were all there when a doctor delivered the news: Her son was “going to be okay.”
“Listening to him breathing with the machine’s beeping was the best sound I’ve ever heard in my life,” said Hoffmann. “Because that meant he was alive.”
Landen was in the hospital for four months. Hoffmann said she would journal to keep track of her son’s recovery. She said he made it just in time to attend the first day of kindergarten that year, only five days after he was released from the hospital. Despite the triumph, Landen at first struggled with some behavioral issues, but has since re-learned “to follow the rules.”
In May 2019, Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the attack. Aranda, who was reportedly banned from the mall on two other instances, said that he was “looking for someone to kill” when he tossed Landen from the balcony.
Hoffmann said she’s forgiven Aranda because “it’s a decision that you have to make so that God can do what he needs to do in your life … and that was to save Landen.”
Last year, the Hoffmanns filed a lawsuit through their attorney Mark Briol against the Mall of America, claiming that the mall security should have prevented Aranda from entering the building. The lawsuit sought unspecified damages for Landen’s medical expenses.
On Dec. 5, the family’s attorneys announced that the lawsuit was confidentially settled and released a statement saying they were working together with Mall of America on policy changes to ensure a similar incident doesn’t happen again.
Good Morning America reached out to Mall of America for comment on the settlement, and the mall reiterated the joint statement with the family.
“Mall of America and the family have agreed to work together with a focus on safety, and already are jointly pursuing policy changes to existing trespass limits for violent criminals so as to give greater ability to preclude such persons from their premises,” said the statement, in part.
Now, Landen is 8 years old. He enjoys playing hockey and is looking forward to his birthday in January, his mother said.
“Angels caught him, there’s no denying it,” she told GMA. “Yes, he had injuries, and we had to live through all of this pain to get to the end. But sometimes God allows us to go through things to teach us something.”
An undated photo of the Atrevida II, the U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the sailboat and its crew Kevin Hyde and Joe DiTommasso. – U.S. Coast Guard
(NEW YORK) — Two men who went missing more than a week ago while sailing to Florida have been found safe, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Kevin Hyde, 64, and Joe DiTommasso, 76, departed Cape May, New Jersey, late last month on their 30-foot sailboat, the Atrevida II, along with a pet dog, according to the Coast Guard. The pair was last seen aboard their boat as it left the Oregon Inlet in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Dec. 3.
Family and friends contacted officials on Sunday after last speaking with the pair on that same day, prompting a search that included aircraft and vessels, the Coast Guard said.
The Atrevida II was located Tuesday afternoon approximately 214 miles east of Delaware, after the men waved down the tanker vessel Silver Muna, the Coast Guard said.
“The Atrevida II was found to be without fuel and power, rendering their radios and navigation equipment inoperable,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The two men and dog were brought aboard the tanker at 4:18 p.m. and evaluated by the vessel’s medical staff “with no immediate concerns,” the Coast Guard said. They will remain on the vessel until its next port of call in New York, where they will be transferred to a Coast Guard vessel for further evaluation and to be reunited with their family, the Coast Guard said.
According to officials, the pair left port at Cape May on Nov. 27 and was traveling to Marathon, Florida.
(NEW YORK) — A man was injured in an apparent shark attack at a Hawaii beach on Tuesday — the second such attack reported in the state in the past week, officials said.
The incident occurred Tuesday morning at Anaeho’omalu Bay on Hawaii’s Big Island, the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources said.
A man in his mid-60s was taken to a local hospital following the encounter with a reported 12-foot tiger shark, the department said. It is not known if the victim was a local or a tourist.
The man was in serious condition after getting bitten on his hip and buttocks area, Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV reported.
“Additional warning signs have been put up at various resort properties in the area, as well as by ocean sports operators,” the Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a statement.
This is the second shark attack in the past week in the state. On Thursday, a 60-year-old woman from Washington state disappeared after witnesses, including her husband, reported she was attacked by a shark in Maui, officials said.
The woman was never found after a search of the area around Keawakapu Point in South Maui.
Shark attacks are rare. There were 73 unprovoked incidents recorded around the world last year, according to yearly research conducted by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. Six of them occurred in Hawaii.
(WASHINGTON) — LGBTQ families are celebrating after President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act Tuesday afternoon in a ceremony held on the White House South Lawn.
The act codifies protections for same-sex and interracial marriage by mandating that states recognize lawful unions performed in other states. It does not require states to issue marriage licenses for same-sex or interracial couples — currently those marriages are protected by the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges and 1967 Loving v. Virginia decisions — however, the new law would effectively prevent married same-sex and interracial couples from being denied the civil benefits granted to them now, should either of those decisions ever be rolled back.
The House of Representatives passed the bill by a margin of 258-169 on Thursday last week, after the Senate pushed the bill through in late November on a 61-36 vote, following months of negotiation, sending the proposed legislation, which received bipartisan support, to the president’s desk.
Thirty-nine House Republicans and 12 Senate Republicans joined Democrats in passing the measure.
Kent Love-Ramirez, who married his husband Diego Love-Ramirez in 2007 and then again in a legal ceremony in 2012, told “Good Morning America” they followed the bill as it moved through Congress over the past year, and on Tuesday applauded Biden’s signing of the act, calling it a “happy” development.
“It was reassuring to see how many Republican elected officials aligned with the Democrats to move this forward,” the Michigan resident added. “But it was equally discouraging to see how many opposed it. So, there’s certainly work to be done although we’re also very reassured by what we see happening in society — that our families are becoming more widely accepted — and frankly, a lot of elected officials just need to sort of catch up with what we’re already seeing in our daily lives in our communities.”
At the same time, Love-Ramirez said the act isn’t a complete package that ensures marriage equality for everyone.
“It’s definitely a moment to celebrate but it is not without its compromise,” the father of two said. “I always try to make clear that although this is a good moment, it’s not the end game, that there are still limitations and it is not full equality for families like ours.”
In addition to codifying some protections for same-sex and interracial couples, the Respect for Marriage Act also offers protections for religious groups who oppose those marriages, preventing them losing their tax-exempt status if they refuse services or goods to those couples.
Beth McDonough of Northwest Pennsylvania also praised the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act this week, while cautioning that she felt more still needed to be done to fully protect same-sex and interracial couples.
“I’m thrilled our country has come such a long way in a short amount of time regarding public opinion around same sex marriage, and I’m excited about the federal protections being put in place to protect existing marriages,” McDonough told “GMA” in an email.
“I think many people don’t realize that this still leaves LGBTQ+ couples who are seeking to get married vulnerable to being discriminated against within their state,” she added. “As far as we’ve come, we still have a long way to go in protecting the equal right of queer people to build families. Our culture is still saturated with the belief that there’s a very specific ‘right’ way marriage should look, and it’s important for us to keep pushing progress and normalizing the fact that there are many ways to form a family.”
Nadine Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, an LGBTQ rights nonprofit based in St. Petersburg, hailed the act’s signing as a “hopeful step” and an “important piece of legislation at a time when LGBTQ children and parents are under relentless attack.”
“I think today is an important step in reinforcing that our families deserve the same protections that others take for granted,” Smith told “GMA.”
The act in particular specifically recognizes marriages like Smith’s, who is Black and is married to a white woman.
“As a lesbian in an interracial marriage, this is pretty important,” she said.
She continued, “The majority of Americans support marriage equality. The majority of Americans support LGBTQ rights, but I think it’s important that everybody wake up to this grueling cadre of domestic terrorists who wish to silence most people for whom this is not the most important daily issue of their lives and intimidate those with us for whom it is most important issue that affects our lives daily.”
Love-Ramirez said that for LGBTQ couples who aren’t yet married, like he and his husband are, there were likely still obstacles ahead.
“The compromise in the act, in terms of it [not obligating] states to perform same sex marriages, is not necessarily a concern for us, but we recognize it as a concern for people who are not yet married, who, if the Supreme Court overturns marriage equality, they’re still going to have to go out of state if they live in a state that doesn’t perform same sex marriages — and that’s appalling,” he said.
Love-Ramirez said he will continue advocating for others in the LGBTQ community until this “slow march” toward marriage equality is achieved.
“It’s a continuation of many steps that have brought us to this point because a lot of advocacy and advancements led us to this point,” he added. “So it’s one moment to celebrate on a long journey towards full equality.”
