LGBT History Month :: Ellen Page and James Obergefell

Each year, along with the help of Equality Forum and LGBTHistoryMonth.com, Hotspots celebrates LGBT History Month by honoring members of the community who are advancing our rights, fighting for visibility, and help move us forward towards a life where everyone feels free to live life as who they really are.

This week, we are kicking off the celebration by honoring actress and activist Ellen Page as well as marriage equality hero James Obergefell whose court case made it to the Supreme Court and paved the way for nationwide marriage equality.

Ellen Page
Born: February 21, 1987

Ellen Page is an Academy Award-nominated Canadian actress who has starred in "Juno," "Inception," "To Rome With Love" and the X-Men series. She has won nominations from BAFTA, the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as a Teen Choice Award.

Page was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of a teacher and a graphic designer. Her first acting role was at the age of 10 in a Canadian television movie called "Pit Pony." She earned work in Canadian films and television, including a breakout role in the 2005 film "Hard Candy."

Page is most famous for her title role in the offbeat Canadian-American dramedy "Juno" (2007), about an unplanned teen pregnancy. The independent film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned Page a nomination for Best Actress. Page caught the attention of mainstream media. She was counted among FHM magazine's "Sexiest Women in the World" and named to Entertainment Weekly's future stars list.

In 2014 Page came out publicly during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign's Time to Thrive conference benefiting LGBT youth. The same year she was named to The Advocate's 40 Under 40 list. Page has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, producing a docu-series for Viceland called "Gaycation" in which she travels the world to discuss LGBT experiences. She has also called for an end to military dictatorship in Burma and describes herself as a pro-choice feminist, an atheist and a vegan.

In 2015 she played opposite Julianne Moore in the film "Freeheld," a true story about a lesbian police officer with terminal cancer who fought the Ocean County (N.J.) Board of Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner. The role was the first in which Page played a lesbian onscreen. She has said that the film and her coming out have liberated her. "I'm on Twitter and I'm gay," Page said, "and I talk about gay rights ... As a gay person living in Los Angeles, I get to do a job that I love that's given me - let's just be honest - money. I think it really is easy to forget what a lot of LGBT people face."

James Obergefell
Born: July 7, 1966

Jim Obergefell is the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. A Cincinnati resident, Obergefell married John Arthur in Maryland in 2013. Arthur was terminally ill with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and Obergefell filed a lawsuit to force their home state of Ohio to recognize him as the surviving spouse on Arthur's death certificate. The couple alleged that the state's governor, John Kasich, was discriminating against same-sex couples who were legally married out of state.

In 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, thus requiring all 50 states and U.S. territories to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"Today's ruling from the Supreme Court affirms what millions across the country already know to be true in our hearts," Obergefell said upon learning the verdict, "that our love is equal." President Barack Obama called the decision a "victory for America."

Obergefell is an unanticipated activist. Born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio, he is the youngest of five children in a Catholic family. He came out as gay in his mid 20s and met Arthur in 1992. They lived together for 22 years before Arthur succumbed in 2014. When Arthur was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, Obergefell became his primary caregiver. The couple flew to Maryland to legally marry just before Arthur died. They had already filed a federal lawsuit to allow Obergefell to be named Arthur's surviving spouse. When the court ruled in favor of Obergefell, Ohio appealed the ruling and won. Obergefell took his fight to the Supreme Court.

Obergefell has become a marriage equality hero, traveling nationally and internationally. With Pulitzer Prize winner Debbie Cenziper, he is the coauthor of "Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality."