The very beginning of the article almost makes it seem like the curators of this collection are just projecting their ideas about these guys on to the photos. But the entire collection (scroll to bottom) makes it clear they are not.
I was a rural living 12 year old when my state (MA) legalized gay marriage. I had this funny perception at the time like: "wow the gay people mobilized to make this happen like 2 years ago and here it is. Democracy is amazing!" It was a couple years later when I realized what a long fight the whole thing actually was. This image in particular struck me [0], it would be 104 years before they could get married.
[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/9OyXYmNN4C45HBz-tNU1J...
