Im not crying, youre crying.
I'm not crying, you're crying. Courtesy of Justice Mary Yu

Supreme court Justice Mary Yu is a pioneer. She is the first openly gay person and the first woman of color to serve on the Washington Supreme Court. On the bench, she has overseen hundreds of family law and adoption cases. The day gay marriage was legalized in Washington in 2012, Yu officiated some of the first same-sex weddings.

Late last month, Yu, who is running for re-election this year, posed for a photo at the Seattle Center fountain with some of the families she helped bring together through adoption and matrimony. Writer Sarah Toce of The Seattle Lesbian covered the gathering for The Huffington Postand gathered together stories and memories from Justice Yu's Facebook page that testify to the effect of her work. There's one below, but you should read the whole thing.


“In August of 2011 Whitney [Taylor] had unexpectedly been diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after our daughter was born,” Amy Babcock wrote. “We wanted to make sure Whitney’s second parent adoption of our daughter was finalized before her surgery to remove the tumor, so Justice Mary Yu spent her lunch break the day before Whitney’s surgery finalizing the second parent adoption for us. It was a time of fear and uncertainty for our family, but Justice Yu provided us joy and thankfulness during that time. We are forever thankful to Justice Yu for ensuring our family was protected and celebrated. In 2015, Justice Yu performed the second parent adoption of our son as well, and we were able this time to celebrate with a room full of friends and family.”

Brb, happy crying.