Freedom To Marry, Freedom At Last!
NOTE: This piece was originally published the day of the SCOTUS Obgerfell v. Hodges ruling in 2015
The Christian Right has tried again and again to scare us into thinking that if gays and lesbians marry, it’ll be the end of the world. We were told that the sacred institution of “marriage”, which they claim has been the bedrock of civilization would collapse into thousand pieces. Their false reading of the Bible has led them to claim that God would vengefully punish America if it allowed for equal marriage rights. Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed the gays for 9/11. Pastor John Hagee blamed the gays for Hurricane Katrina. Rev. Sun Myung Moon called the gays “dung-eating dogs.” While there have been a few Republicans who’ve supported gay marriage, the GOP as a whole has been unabashedly homophobic. Their party has been a roadblock to progress, spawning the likes of Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama, who refuses to marry same-sex couples against the rulings of his own state’s courts. The next frontier of homophobia will surely be the “religious liberty” laws, which are essentially the legalization of prejudice. Indeed, future generations will look upon the Republican Party’s homophobia with the same disgust that they look upon the racism of the Southern Democrats during the 1960’s. Today, more and more Americans are realizing that the Christian Right is full of shit.
The flag that flies over our nation is in rainbow colors. The Supreme Court has declared in a 5–4 ruling that “the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live and that states may no longer reserve the right only for heterosexual couples,” (Barnes). There. It took us long enough, but at last, as Dr. King would say, we are living up to the ideals of our creed. Or better yet, let me quote King’s wife, Coretta Scott, who proclaimed that, “Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union.” President Obama acknowledged the victory of our struggle, saying that “sometimes there are days like this when that slow and steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.” Surely, we are at this moment because of the unrelenting activism, endurance, and sacrifice of those before us. We are here because of Harvey Milk, Stonewall, and too many others to name. Gratitude should also be given to the millennial generation, who are wisely casting off the bigoted traditions of their forefathers. They have been more progressive on this issue than any other generation in American history and I am proud to be one of them.
Yet what does it all mean? Chief Justice Kennedy, a conservative, broke away from the backwardness of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, arguing that, “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.” Kennedy’s words are moving, but descriptive of our nation’s growing inclusion towards people of diverse backgrounds. Star Trek actor George Takei, a longtime activist for gay rights, commented,
“The arc of our history is toward more equality being expanded to more and more people. When our nation was founded, women had no rights, black people had no rights. Because there were determined women and fair-minded men, women are running for public office and equality has been expanded. We have African-Americans in the halls of Congress and in the White House. That’s the arc that LGBT people are experiencing, towards that day when we’re recognized as full-class citizens who have all the rights we’re entitled to as Americans.”
He’s right in that last sentence, though. LGBT people are still moving towards the day where they are free and equal citizens. That day has not yet arrived, they are not yet free and equal.
One court ruling will not end homophobia, or transphobia for that matter. Hate crimes, suicides, and prejudice against the LGBT are still problems, among others. So long as the Christian Right continues to spread its fungus of intolerance throughout America, the humanity of the LGBT will always be challenged. Enforcing equal marriage may not be an easy task, as there are plenty of Roy Moores to go around. Yet the air has changed. The barbarism of the past is starting to lose its hold on the future. Today, let the women kiss their wives and the men kiss their husbands. Let every bakery bake a gay wedding cake and to every pizza shop a gay pizza pie. Let every church, mosque, and synagogue praise the love between homosexuals in their prayers and sermons. Let every Republican who tried to prevent this moment hang their head in shame. Their decadence has lost.
Love has won.
Originally published at http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com.
