I’ve always believed that every day we wake up to a world of new possibilities. June 26, 2015 was a day that this could not be any more true. I woke up to the news that history was being written. I woke up to find that love is not dead. I woke up and learned that the Supreme Court used their power for justice and equality. Gay and lesbian couples around the nation celebrated a victory long awaited. Same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States of America.
The Supreme Court recognized that prohibiting gay and lesbian couples to marry violates the Constitution.. This ruling is the first major move made by this nation regarding marriage since the Supreme Court removed the ban of interracial marriage in 1967. Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court released this statement:
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.
This radical shift in law gives gay and lesbian couples across the nation the rights that they have been denied for so long. A university professor I had the pleasure of meeting explained to me the way this decision will affect his life, as well as the life of his partner.
I’m currently a 50-something [year old] professor in the USG system. I met the love of my life 20 years ago in 1995, and we’ve been together ever since. We are so thrilled to be finally able to legalize our union. Over the years, we’ve suffered ignorance and numerous indignities such as not being allowed to enter the other’s hospital room because we weren't "next of kin." We both worked in the wedding industry in the '90s, as a musician and florist, so now we get to plan our own. It’s been a long fight to obtain this basic human right. And it feels great.
June 26, 2015 taught me that change is possible, and people are capable of opening their hearts to acceptance. This day also taught me just how much hatred tries to overcome the power of love. I came to this shocking discovery when I saw this post made by a pastor from my small, southern hometown.
I couldn’t understand why this message hurt me so deeply when I first glanced at it. I’ve never been an activist for same-sex marriage. For a majority of my life, I lived in a bubble where things fit perfectly inside of a box. I wasn’t exposed to the hatred of differences because I didn’t even have the opportunity to encounter it. The more I read this post, though, the more I became saddened that anyone, let alone a person claiming to worship such a loving God, could speak with such hatred. Then, my sadness turned to rage -- rage that someone could feel more compelled to judge another human being than to love them. This sadness and rage grew deeper throughout my morning as I saw more and more hatred posts about the new political move.
If you’re reading this, and are growing increasingly offended by this point, please know that I get it. I do. I was raised in a place where the term “liberal” is irrelevant. I believe in God and respect His will. I understand why you’re offended. I respect your argument that God defines marriage as “one man and one woman.” But dust off your Bibles, loves, because James 4:11-12 advises:
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, He who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Sometimes we fear things that we don’t understand. We resist anything that goes against our morals. While I applaud standing up for what you believe in, I am also so disheartened to see so many people incapable of loving anyone who doesn’t adhere to the standards set by their own personal beliefs. This issue is bigger than just you or me or what we do and don’t believe. It’s about people and love and acceptance, all things that we can find common ground on.
Many people cried out against a move that’s “not right” and “not traditional.” I wonder: What makes this “not right”? Because it’s “not traditional”? Because it’s not what you believe? What are you more angry about -- the newly defined institution of marriage or the fact that you can’t make people live exactly the way you want them to? The same people who defend issues on the basis of our founding fathers are the same ones to object to decisions that move towards equality, which is the most basic principle of our nation. A statement made by the Supreme Court says this:
They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- that’s what our constitution calls for. And on June 26, that’s what this nation got.
