hardwick: st.etersburg is still the most beautiful city in russia and geographically its location means it will never lose that importance. but after more than ten difficult years of transition, i think that the future of russia's experiment with democracy and free-market economy still remains uncertain. narrator: st. petersburg's relative location to european markets and culture were key to its development on the neva river delta. symbol of peter the great's desire for "europeanization" of russia, today st. petersburg continues its role as russia's "window on the west." the transition to aree-market economy has challengedt. petersburg residents with soaring housing costs associated with privatization. but joining the global economy has also given rise to entrepreneurial new russians, people who may play a pivotal role in the future economic development critical to russia and its neighbors. russia is by far the largest country in the world stretching across 11 time zones. its huge land area feature

everyone is aware of the problems caused by bauer versus hardwick. it took 17 years to get rid of that decision. it can make things worse in court if it had never gone there in the first place. that was part of the disagreement. i would say the disagreement over that issue, while emotional at times, has gone away. people work together effectively at litigating. the experts were very much experts preparing these cases by traditional roots. and i think there is a sense that john davidson -- someone was going to bring that case, challenging prop 8. those issues are behind us fortunately. ms. howe: before we move on, i want to bring in sarah. she was the director for the human rights campaign in 2009 and 2014. you were on the ground. ms. warbelow: we were trying to do a dual strategy. one of the challenges we were facing was, how do we advance marriage equality in state that do not have constant touche and all amendments -- constitutional amendments, having these conversations from new hampshire, maryland, washington state, and at the same time, fighting

the movement was still aware of problems caused by bowers versus hardwick. into the generation to get rid of that decision. when you lose in the court, it can make things considerably worse than if you had never gone there in the first place. the disagreement over that issue, while emotional at the time has gone away. people have worked effectively at litigating the case. the experts were prepared. i think there is also a sense now that somebody was going to bring that challenging proposition eight, at least it was done by the really high quality legal team put together. those issues are behind us, fortunately. caroline frederickson: before we move on, let's move on to sarah. she was the director of the human rights campaign. you were also on the ground in a lot of these times. sarah warbelow: that's right. we were trying to have a dual strategy. how do we then marriage equality in states that don't have constitutional amendments, where there are legislatures finally to having conversations. new hampshire, maryland washington state. at the same time, fightin

have gathered here have discussed the history of the fight for marriage equality from bowers verses hardwickto lawrence verses texas to the united states verses wins or and finally to hodges which will be argued in the supreme court on tuesday. what are the ways of which the court could decide this monumental case? josh: what will the potential outcomes mean for rights and other could not teksz. here to lead the discussion on these and other important questions is amy howe. aparter in with the gold steep and russell here in dc. she serves as council or co-council and merits and cases in the supreme court. she is also editor of the blog. in award-winning website that is covering the supreme court. and author of the regular column about the court. and of course she is a good friend to acs. so please join me in welcoming amy. [applause] thanks caroline. would i start by introducing the panel of experts, we will spend one hour talking with them. then we try to leave plenty of time. between 25 to 30 minutes for questions. and i will keep the introductions of the panel. it is accomplished and it w