When the news came on Nov. 5 that same-sex marriages could be legally performed in St. Louis, Lilly Leyh and her soon-to-be-wife Sadie Pierce dropped everything.

“We got the push notification as a text from PROMO about the new legislation. I was picking Sadie [Pierce] up from work, and we literally just pulled a U-turn and went downtown,” Leyh said.

Leyh, a dual-degree graduate student in the Brown School of Social Work and Olin Business School, and Pierce, a 2014 graduate of the Brown School, were the first in line to receive legal marriage documentation.

Courtesy of Lilly Leyh

Earlier that day, Missouri Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, regardless of gender, striking down laws denying this right to same-sex couples across St. Louis. The ruling came roughly a month following the Missouri Circuit Court ruling that same-sex marriages performed outside of Missouri must be recognized within the state and preceded by two days the federal court ruling allowing for same-sex marriage across the state of Missouri.

Shortly after Burlison’s St. Louis ruling, Leyh received a text alert from PROMO, Missouri’s statewide organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality through legislative action and community education. Leyh has been actively involved in PROMO, and her focus since beginning at the Brown School has been social justice and human diversity work.

She has primarily assisted in lobbying efforts for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to achieve protection for the LGBT community against discriminatory hiring practices and firing in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Leyh is also involved in OUTLook, the Brown School’s LGBT group, and is a co-president for the Branch Out for Olin.

Leyh met Pierce in a class in the Brown School and the class’s professor, Anna Shabsin, also a board member for Promo, performed their marriage ceremony. Leyh said she can only speak highly of the Brown School as an incredibly supportive and inclusive community.

Although Leyh was not out as an undergraduate, she has since worked with Student Involvement and Leadership to help plan and run the Lavender Recognition Ceremony in 2013. This graduation ceremony honors LGBT students by bringing together members of this community to recognize how sexuality and gender have influenced their time at Washington University.

But the Lavender Recognition Ceremony is only a single indication of the supportive community upheld by Wash. U. undergraduates. With student-run organizations like Safe Zones, a group that facilitates workshops to educate the Wash. U. community on LGBT identity, and Pride Alliance, a group that hosts social and activist programs relating to LGBT issues, students at Wash. U. have many opportunities to learn about and get involved with this community.

Courtesy of Lilly Leyh

Although students in both Safe Zones and Pride Alliance are pleased with the new legislation providing for marriage equality, they also have higher goals for the future. Leaders said they see marriage as a preliminary institutional right that may serve as a stepping-stone for a broader decrease in discrimination of the LGBT community in years to come.

“Although we recognize the importance of marriage, what I see for the future is the passage of an inclusive non-discrimination policy in Missouri and also federally. I know that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act hasn’t been passed here. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in state-level legislation around employment or housing discrimination,” junior Cameron Kinker, president of Safe Zones, said.

“There wasn’t that much discussion on the new legislation here because groups like Pride have been discussing this for years,” junior Fabian Barch, external president of Pride Alliance, said. “It’s a really interesting situation from the activist point of view because you fight for all these goals that will increase equality, but whenever you get a victory, there are still so many more places that you need to dedicate your energy. Lack of marriage equality was more symptomatic of a larger systemic problem.”

Barch also sees possibilities for policy improvements in the future, such as passing legislation for gender-inclusive bathrooms, allowing gay men to donate blood and preventing discrimination in homeless shelters against people in the LGBT community.

Even so, “there is a lot of rightful celebration” about marriage equality in Missouri, Barch said.

Keeping in line with the theme of celebration, Leyh and Pierce are planning their larger wedding ceremony in June. Recently, they took their engagement photos wearing shirts based on #showmemarriage, to increase awareness in the community that young LGBT couples are benefitting from the new legislation.