This article is one in a series showcasing the families who are plaintiffs in the marriage equality cases that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28. Read more here.



LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every time Kim Franklin saw Tammy Boyd in their small town of Simpsonville, Kentucky, a Rod Stewart ballad streamed through her head: “Some guys have all the luck.”

That crush on her high school classmate lasted two decades, as Franklin came out as gay in the 1990s while Boyd married and had three children.

When Boyd’s marriage ended years later, the two ran into each other. There was flirting. In 2010 they finally married, at sunset on a Connecticut beach.

Two dozen strangers happened by and stopped to watch, then clapped and cheered as they kissed. But the couple missed their family and friends, who hadn’t been able to make the 800-mile trip.

“That’s why we want it here so bad, so we can celebrate with our family,” Boyd said.

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They bought a house in the Kentucky countryside on two acres, where they build bonfires and host their three children and four grandchildren. But everything seems harder than it should be – taxes, insurance, people who don’t approve of their relationship. That’s what drew them into the legal struggle for same-sex marriage.

“We took up this fight because there’s so many people coming up behind us that should not have to go through what we went through,” Franklin said. “It’s been a nice adventure for us. Love will win.”

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