Boom, SCOTUS, now drop the mic. In a historic and landmark decision this morning Jun 26th 2015, The Supreme Court determined that gay marriage bans by state are illegal. The result has made Gay Marriage legal in all 50 States!!!! This is beyond amazing and wonderful, As an advocate for marriage equality and ally for gay rights, this is a BIG win, especially when just a decade earlier we saw gay marriage bans coming out of the woodwork and the stand off between San Francisco and the state of California on this issue at a similar time. We have come a long way.
The structural legalization of marriage for all is a long jump leap forward, but we have to remember that just because there is legal action, it does not mean that it is the end of discrimination (especially for LGBTQAI). The recent and very public race based murders in South Carolina is an all too clear example of that. And, it is important to note that this supreme court decision was not unanimous (it barely passed with a 5-4 vote). With the two Obama appointees in favor and the two Bush appointees in dissent, this decision makes me both thankful and relieved that we don't have the court we did 10 years ago. Kind of like when you knock into something fragile, and it wobbles for a long time before settling; you always imagine it breaking. So too do I wonder what would have happened if the decision would have gone the other way. Yet, we don't have to imagine, all we have to do is look no further than the scathing remakes of the dissenting opinions
Chief Justice Roberts' (in all his creepy sweater vest glory) smartly couched his anti- gay descent in "states rights" rhetoric (see first link above). But what was really troubling is Justice Scalia's comments in which he likens marriage to a prison for the freedom of intimacy, and that the ruling was "hippie" nonsense. Thus, it is clear that we still have work to do on this issue. I suspect that with this new sexual egalitarian landscape, we will see some backlash, some outrage and a bit of back sliding. Just because you say people have freedom doesn't make it so. In fact, that is often used to vale discrimination. Equality has to be practiced; it is a continuous fight.
Yet, I do hope this trend continues around the world (in part because I want that Australian couple to Divorce.) It is a glimmer of hope in 2015 which has , up until this point, been a throw back to years of open and visible discrimination. I could not have asked for a better way to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of this blog.
"TODAY, WAS A GOOD DAY"
