Sunday was the first day that people in the state of Washington could get married following the successful passage of the same-sex ballot measure. Matt Stopera spent the day at Seattle city hall taking photographs of the long line of people who had turned up, accompanied by their friends and families, to get married.

The photos are truly heartwarming.

There is a lot of needless suffering in the world. Why would anyone want to willfully deny to others the kind of joy that was on display here? Iago’s words in Shakespeare’s Othello (slightly changed) seem fitting:

Who steals my purse steals trash. ‘Tis something, nothing:
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands.
But he that filches from me my good name right to marry the person I love
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.