As many of you are no doubt aware, on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and violated the civil rights of those who were recognized as married by the states they lived in.
All I can say is it's about damn time.
According to Wikipedia, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington —as well as the District of Columbia and five Native American tribes—have legalized same-sex marriage. There are states out there working to legalize same sex marriage now. With DOMA ruled unconstitutional, those couples in these states can now receive the federal benefits due to married couples.
What does this mean to me?
I have friends living in New York and Connecticut who are legally married. They have long been denied the benefits of marriage because of the fact that their spouses are the same sex as them. With this ruling, they'll be granted all the rights that I have since I am in a heterosexual relationship and legally married to my husband.
There are going to be religious groups who scream that now they have to perform same sex marriages against their religious beliefs. My answer to that is no they don't. They are protected under the First Amendment with the proviso that they follow the laws of the land. Nowhere in the law does it say they have to perform these marriages. They don't even have to approve of them. All it means is the federal government is now forced to recognize same sex marriages and legal and legitimate marriages.
What I would like to see is the allowance of a redefinition of family. I vote we let same sex couples adopt children. Let them work through surrogates to have children. Give them the same rights to have a family, a life, to fulfill their dreams that a heterosexual couple has. End the discrimination and hate towards those who do not fit in with the classic definition of "normal".
This quote aptly sums up my feelings on this matter. It is a quote from a Unitarian Universalist minister. The UU church is one of the few churches that recognizes same sex pairings as legitimate and is openly welcome of the LGBTQI community.
"As we celebrate today's historic decisions, I think of the hundreds of thousands of people--some no longer walking among us--who took the actions that made today happen. Courageous, specific, undramatic, often repetitive, actions that always lead to the big moments. For all of the actors, known and unknown, my heart swells with gratitude." - Rev. Meg Riley, CLFUU.
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