WATCH: Freedom to Marry’s “Until We Could,” by inaugural poet Richard Blanco

This weekend, Freedom to Marry publicly released “Until We Could,” a beautiful short film adaptation of an original poem by Richard Blanco, the 2012 presidential inaugural poet.

Blanco wrote the poem exclusively for Freedom to Marry, in celebration of the organization’s 10th Anniversary earlier this year. The adaptation, which debuted at Freedom to Marry’s Cheers to 10 Years event in May, tells the story of same-sex couples’ love as the country moves toward greater respect for and understanding of the freedom to marry. 

The video, narrated by actors Robin Wright (House of Cards) and Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), provides moving snapshots of same-sex couples showing their compassion for each other. The adaptation is directed by Sundance directors David Lowery and Yen Tan, directors of Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Pit Stop. The film was an official for the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and demonstrates that every loving, committed couple deserves respect.

Blanco writes of the movement toward the freedom to marry:

Parades / became rallies—bold words on signs and mouths / until a man claimed freedom as another word / for marriage and he said: / Let us in, we said: love is love / proclaimed it into all eyes that would / listen at every door that would open, until No’s / and Maybes turned into Yeses / town by town, city by city, state by state, / understanding us / and the woman who dared say enough / until the gavel struck into law what we always knew: / Love is the right to say: I do and I do and I do.

Cheers to 10 Years celebrated the decade that passed since the first marriages between same-sex couples in the United States began in Massachusetts in 2004. The event looked back on the enormous strides the marriage movement has taken in just a decade.

“Until We Could” tracks those strides and captures the spirit of the idea that America is ready for the freedom to marry.

Watch the video, and read this piece from The Daily Beast by Tim Teeman for more on the video: