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Michigan agrees to pay $1.9 million to winning lawyers in gay marriage case

The state of Michigan has agreed to pay $1.9 million to the lawyers whose clients successfully challenged its ban on gay marriage.

Carole Stanyar, one of four main lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case, said the $1.9 million was “basically the amount that we requested” from the state, the Associated Press reports.

The state has also agreed to pay $96,000 to a lawyer it hired to defend the ban, along with $148,000 to economists and social scientists who testified in support of the ban.

The legal battle, which began in federal court in Detroit, lasted more than three years. It ended with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June striking down the ban as unconstitutional.

Stanyar said at one point she had to sell her home of 25 years to keep the case going.

“We didn’t have a choice … Once you’re in it, you can’t lose it. You just do whatever it takes,” she said.

A spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill Schuette, who vigorously defended the ban, could not be reached for comment.