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Same-Sex Marriage: Love Wins
It’s official. Same sex marriage is now simply “marriage.” Love wins!
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In an unprecedented 5-to-4 vote last Friday, which incidentally coincided with the launch of Gay Pride Weekend in New York City, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. This means that after decades of court fights and street fights, same-sex marriage will now be mandated and accepted in all 50 states. In fact, it will no longer be known as “same-sex marriage” — it’ll just be marriage!
“No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said in the historic decision. “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”
Marriage is a “keystone of our social order,” Justice Kennedy continued, adding that the plaintiffs in the case were seeking “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”
In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia mocked the opinion of Justice Kennedy, who has become the nation’s most important judicial champion of gay rights.
“The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic,” Justice Scalia wrote of his colleague’s work. “Of course the opinion’s showy profundities are often profoundly incoherent.”
In a statement from the Rose Garden, President Obama welcomed the decision, saying it “affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts.”
“Today, we can say, in no uncertain terms, that we have made our union a little more perfect,” Mr. Obama added. “When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.”
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The ruling sparked a spontaneous and jubilant celebration among gays, lesbians and supporters nationwide. James Esseks, the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT project, said the decision is a “monumental step” forward.
“The Court today welcomed same-sex couples into the American family. It did that because it recognized that we make the commitment, we express the love and we need the protections that are at the core of marriage. Welcoming same-sex couples into marriage is something that’s going to create immense joy around the country and isn’t going to harm anyone.” Even the White House used lights to adorn itself in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag.
While polls prove that a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage, not everyone was in a mood to celebrate the decision. Many prominent groups, including the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of course several members of the Republican Party all raced to give public statements to denounce the ruling. Religious leaders even pledged to seek legal means to shield their beliefs from state interference.
“In the coming years, evangelical institutions could be pressed to sacrifice their sacred beliefs about marriage and sexuality in order to accommodate whatever demands the culture and law require,” dozens of prominent evangelicals said in a joint statement. “We will not allow the government to coerce or infringe upon the rights of institutions to live by the sacred belief that only men and women can enter into marriage.”
In an odd move, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christian leaders to channel the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by resisting the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.
“May I ask, are we going to now discriminate against people of conscience, people of faith, who disagree with this ruling?” he said.”I’m not sure that every governor and every attorney general should just say, well, it’s the law of the land because there’s no enabling legislation,” Huckabee added.
Despite the pushback from those who simply have a different opinion, the highest court in the land has spoken. Same-sex marriage is now simply “marriage.” Heterosexual and homosexual couples now have the right to marry anywhere in the United States. It’s a huge victory!
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This was huge. All those church folk and Repubs who always crying about the constitution and how the Supreme Court is the last word got their feelings hurt. They didn't expect this and now it's the law end of story. So everybody can get married and love does win. I was celebrating right along with everybody else. I guess this must feel like when it became official for blacks and whites to marry. Congrats to my guy Obama who had one hell of a week!