Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judges on Friday heard oral arguments in three same-sex marriage cases from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, with dozens of residents from all three states lining up as early as 4:30 a.m. to secure seats inside the New Orleans courtroom.

“We knew when we came here today, we were on the right side of history and the right side of love and compassion,” said one of the Texas case plaintiffs, Mark Phariss, after this morning’s three-hour marathon court proceedings. Phariss is suing for the right to marry his partner of 18 years, Vic Holmes, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

Other plaintiffs from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas joined Phariss and Holmes in expressing optimism about the judges’ questions and remarks during the oral arguments.

Judge Patrick Higginbotham, a Reagan appointee, and James Graves, an Obama appointee, appeared skeptical of state attorneys’ arguments defending same-sex marriage bans as necessary to preserve, in part, the state interest in promoting procreation.

The third judge, Jerry Smith, also a Reagan appointee with a conservative partisan reputation, focused his questions predominantly on the relationship between federal and state governments, asking whether these cases might ask the federal courts to inappropriately interfere with state laws and state political processes.

Kyle Duncan, a special prosecutor assigned to defend Louisiana’s same-sex marriage ban, told the court that legal same-sex marriage in what is now 36 other states was a kind of social experiment, and that Louisiana’s ban was about exercising caution before changing the marital status quo. His argument was echoed by lawyers for Texas and Mississippi.

Andrea Sanders, one of the plaintiffs from Mississippi, took exception to that characterization, and spoke out against it at a press conference following the hearing.

“We are not taking part in a social experiment,” said Sanders, who addressed the press with her long-time partner, Becky Bickett. The couple has twin sons, and said their lives were no different from straight couples who have faced trials and tribulations over the years, but for their inability to get legally married in their home state.

“We never let go of our dreams,” said Sanders, comparing her hopes for marrying her partner to embers of a fire that is now gaining strength across the country. “We guarded that ember and shared its warmth and happiness.”