For the current generation of college students, one of the defining moments of history that we have lived through is the legalization of Gay Marriage and the 2015 ruling by the Supreme Court that ultimately made it legal across the country for everyone to have the equal rights to marriage.
The process of getting to that victorious moment in 2015 was not a straight or easy road and did not come quickly. The fight was also not only about marriage, but it was about the working for the recognition of gay rights.
This was a process that has been going on throughout much of modern history but the main and most recognizable organizing came out of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s with the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and Pride Marches becoming widespread and strong annual traditions beginning in the 1970s.
But having the legalization of Gay Marriage come 46 years after the Stonewall Riots was probably the most visible and tangible result of the decades of advocating for the rights of those who identify with the LBTQ+ community.
What I have realized though, as a straight woman, is what an interesting time the Supreme Court decision came for myself and my generation. At the time of the decision was handed out, I was a newly minted 17-year-old, a time when myself and others were exploring our sexual identities and starting to find ourselves in relationships.
Now what is so exciting was that the friends I had who are a part of the LGBTQ community can have their love and relationships fully recognized by the court of law and be husband and husband, or wife and wife, or partner and partner. Marriage is not just confined to being about “Husband and Wife” anymore.
Now marriage isn’t just Black and White, it truly is a spectrum of colors, a rainbow like the Pride Flag.
I remember last year when one of my good friends started a new relationship I was so excited for him to have a boyfriend. I wasn’t sure if it was just because coming from an all-girls school so for most of high school my friends and I didn’t have any serious relationships, but I think my excitement for my friend came from the realization of how great it is that as a society, we are now in a place where most people can accept other people’s diverse sexualities and celebrate everyone’s relationships.
I thought this excitement was something only I felt. But then last week one of my friends showed me an Instagram photo of her friend from home and her girlfriend, and exclaimed, “Look how cute they are!” Once she showed me the picture, I brought up my story of the excitement I felt for my friend when he started a relationship with someone and I was comforted by the fact that she related to and shared my feelings of excitement.
After all, love is love, and all love deserves to be treated as equal. So now that we are finally at a point of history where everyone’s love can be recognized it is a moment to be excited about.
A generation ago, when my parents would have been in college, the attitudes around LGBTQ relationships were much different than what they are now and I imagine that people were not nearly as open about their relationships as people are now.
I certainly recognize that work still needs to be done to educate everyone about sexuality and the fair and equal treatment of everyone regardless of their diverse sexual identities, however, a great place to start is where we are now where most people feel as though they can be transparent about how and who they love and be seen with their romantic partners.
Now that all types of love are legally recognized, we can continue to have conversations that go deeper to make a further change to have greater equality and equity for all love.
