After Prop 8 passed five years ago this month, Jeff and I were devastated. We just wanted the same freedom enjoyed by our friends and neighbors to marry whom we love, but we were denied that opportunity.

Thanks to the tireless and hard work of Marriage Equality USA and its many coalition partners to secure the freedom to marry in California – as in Illinois, Hawai’i, and the other states where MEUSA has worked so hard in pursuit of this important civil right – Jeff and I finally were able to realize our dream.

Just a few weeks ago, Jeff and I were incredibly fortunate to be able to marry at San Francisco City Hall, the site of so many marriage equality battles and triumphs over the past few years. We wed under the beautiful dome of the rotunda, witnessed by our friends and family, and officiated by MEUSA's John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney.

My husband – I love saying that word – and I have been so grateful to the efforts of Marriage Equality USA in helping make our civil marriage a legal reality that we wanted to give something back to the marriage equality advocacy movement.

In lieu of a traditional wedding registry for toasters, dishware, or linens we don't really need, we created an Equality Registry, a personalized website created by MEUSA where friends and family can quickly and easily make fully tax-deductible gifts to support the important work of this organization.

For a grassroots volunteer organization like MEUSA, even a few dollars go a long way toward efforts to secure marriage equality in the more than 30 states that still prohibit loving same-sex couples from marrying. Jeff and I have been amazed and humbled at the generosity of our friends and family, who to date have donated over $2,600 to MEUSA.

For those of you who now have the opportunity to legally wed, Jeff and I hope you’ll consider setting up an Equality Registry to benefit MEUSA and its critical work in your home state and across the country.

And Equality Registries aren’t just for weddings; some people use them to mark anniversaries, birthdays, or on the occasion of an adoption or a birth, for example.

It just takes a few minutes to set up your own Equality Registry, via an online form at the MEUSA website.

By MEUSA Social Media Director Thom Watson