CHICAGO (AP) — Nearly 15,000 same-sex couples have wed in Cook County since Illinois legalized marriage equality six years ago.

Advocates and elected officials celebrated the legalization’s sixth anniversary on Tuesday during a news conference.

Then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed the marriage equality law in 2013, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all states must allow same-sex unions.

Patricia Ewert and Vernita Gray were the first same-sex couple to marry in Illinois on Nov. 27, 2013. Gray died in March 2014. Ewert, now 71, said that it meant a lot to her to be able to call herself Gray’s wife when she was settling her affairs after her death.

Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough said people have come from 47 states and a dozen countries to be married in Cook County.