2 San Bernardino Residents Among Special Invited Guests For President Obama's SOTU Address
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Southland will be well represented when President Barack Obama delivers his next, and final, State of the Union address on Jan. 12.
Among the invited guests inside the Capitol, will be people touched by the massacre and terror attack in San Bernardino.
In their many years together, Ryan Reyes says his partner, Daniel Kaufman, showed him what the very best of humanity looks like.
CBS2's Adrianna Weingold spoke with Reyes by phone about his longtime love, one of the 14 people killed in the attack on Dec. 2.
"He was a friend to the world and I'm going to do everything I possibly can to try to make the world a better place by sharing his story and trying to have everyone be a little bit more like Daniel. If we could all be a little bit more like Daniel, the world would be a much better place," said Reyes.
He has been invited to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during the SOTU.
Reyes is hoping to spread of message of love and acceptance to the Muslim community.
"We need to come together as a nation and as humans in general and embrace each other because the Muslim community is just as desperate to put an end to this as the rest of us are," Reyes said.
President Obama is hoping absence speaks louder than words -- he's announced plans to leave an empty seat in Michelle's guest box for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice.
Another guest at the address will be Annie Teall, the dispatch supervisor who took charge, handling the 911 calls during the Dec. 2 massacre.
"I'm a little nervous that I'll say the wrong thing to the wrong people," Teall said.
Ironic, that the same woman who stayed so calm in such chaos is now nervous, but also excited for the opportunity.
Another notable guest at the SOTU is staff Sgt. Spencer Stone. He, of course made headlines in August when he helped stop a terror attack on a Paris bound train.