Today’s United States often depresses me. We don’t care enough for our neighbor. We argue about inane things while ignoring our real problems. Too many people care about the Kardashians and not our crumbling infrastructure. But sometimes we get things right, and this was one of those days.
Not only did SCOTUS get the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges correct; they (most specifically swing vote and majority opinion writer Anthony Kennedy) did it with a poetic flourish I was not expecting:
“Far from seeking to devalue marriage, the petitioners seek it for themselves because of their respect—and need—for its privileges and responsibilities. And their immutable nature dictates that same-sex marriage is their only real path to this profound commitment.”
“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. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
The argument is over. Gay marriage is now the law of the land. I’m curious to see if Justice Antonin Scalia’s head pops off of his body as a result.
As a rational human being the debate over gay marriage has always been one close to home. Like most of you reading this I have gay friends, gay relatives, and gay gods. To see someone’s rights and liberties valued just a little bit less has always been painful and seemed to betray what this country stands for. We still have a long way to go in that regard of course, but we took a step forward today.
I have a gay brother named Dason and he wrote this on his Facebook page shortly after the SCOTUS ruling:
“When I first met Jordan, and couldn’t get him out of my mind, I remember (jokingly) thinking to myself ‘Today I met the man I’m gonna marry’ (while singing that old song) I never thought that a mere 5 years later, that could ever prove true…..and here we are….”
Here we are indeed!
I’ve always seen the gods I worship as a reflection of humanity, which means they are representative of so much of the human condition. I’ve never understood an asexual god or a god incapable of seeing the beauty and love present in a gay or lesbian relationship. Because the gods are much like us some of them are gay, some of them are straight, and some of them are transgendered. A world that refuses dignity to every consensual relationship is a world that doesn’t honor what I think of as sacred.
Today my gods won. Today my friends and family won. Today love won. Today we won.
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