On February 12, 2004, the City of San Francisco made history by issuing same-sex marriage licenses.  Led by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the city continued to marry gay and lesbian couples until the California Supreme Court issued an immediate halt on March 11, 2004. Over 3,900 couples were married, the inevitable national debate began to rage, and we were there to record the entire affair in this groundbreaking and award-winning documentary.

Just like the news channels, we religiously charged our batteries, cleaned our lenses, and made the sacrifice to film these historic events. But after the marriages were stopped and annulled, confiscating the joy and validation of thousands of couples, the news cameras clicked off and their sound bites ceased.  It was then that our real journey began, our cameras continued to roll, and our understanding of the true story developed.

In life-changing moments, we documented the elation and despair of couples and families who were fighting for their right to protect each other.  The power of these moments provided the resolve we needed to sacrifice all of our clients and projects in order to do what we felt was right. Collectively, we knew that we had the power to make a difference and to expand people’s minds.  We had to make this film.

The intent of this film project is to present and expose the many sides of the same-sex marriage debate. This film follows the roller coaster process as the first volley is waged against the constitutional question of marriage equality and continues as passions ignite this civil rights battle right to the heart of the nation.

Pursuit of Equality is one of those extraordinary projects that not only documents this unique moment in history, but also provides great insight into what is our nation’s next great Civil Rights issue.

– Geoff Callan & Mike Shaw