Today the Supreme court made marriage equality for all a reality in all 50 states. Love it or hate it it is what they have done. Canada has had marriage equality for 10 years, and Ireland voted it in by majority vote earlier this year. Uruguay joins the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark and France in recognizing marriage equality nationwide. Marriage equality has gone into effect in New Zealand, Wales, and UK. Same-sex marriage is also recognized in parts of Mexico and in 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. I recall the day that it first started to happen in San Francisco for the period of a few days in 1994 before it was stopped by the courts. Then I thought it was over when it happened in 2008 in California only to have my hopes dashed by a popular vote of the people, when the decisive campaign was launched by the conservative right, and religious extremists turning it back. This struggle has been long and hard, but then anything worth having normally is.
Justice Kennedy said "no union is more profound than marriage" and that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extends to "certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy, including intimate choices that define personal identity and beliefs."
"The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times," Kennedy wrote in the 34-page opinion. "The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning."
He also said the same amendment's equal protection clause "prohibits this unjustified infringement of the fundamental right to marry," noting the court's 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia – which invalidated prohibitions on interracial marriage – contained a similar finding.
There will be backlash as I have already seen in the gay pride flag that was vandalized yesterday in Anchorage , or the hate filled posts on Twitter, and You tube and on most any major GLBT newspaper article. I can only hope there will come a time when we all can stop hating each other because of our difference, and instead embrace the concept that diversity is really our strength.
Wishing you peace, with Liberty and Justice for All!