Courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign. Please click the image to learn more.
As a girl + guy about to begin our own marriage, family, partnership, together, the events of the past few days have been unbearable to watch. I’m more covertly political about many things, but the one thing I will vocally state–without regard to your politics–is my belief that all humans are created equally and each deserve fair access to the same basic rights. Rights to opportunity, to basic health and food, and yes, the right to love who they choose. More than that, they deserve to make that love broadly known through every legal auspice and without fear of retribution.
“I am grateful to Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and finally, finally President Obama, for having the courage to be the public faces of this battle.”
In a few days, I will be part of a legal and domestic partnership. In the District of Columbia, gay marriage is now part of our way of life–it is merely a different box to check on the marriage license. When David and I made the choice to move in together three years ago, we considered applying for a domestic/civil partnership to protect our ability to make choices for each other. Today, we undertake marriage with the same seriousness. Love is part of it, but the matter is our right to choose. I believe our legal system was meant to protect partnerships–not determine what that should look like.
The most heartbreaking irony? In a matter of days, my brother, who is gay, will legally officiate my wedding, all while knowing he would be unable to have a wedding of his own in North Carolina.
And that is why today, I hope to put the angry, hate-filled, ignorant rhetoric aside. Because this will happen. Marriage quality. Racial Equality. Gender Equality.
And to my friends and our allies, don’t get cynical yet, don’t give up hope. We will fight for this, and one day it will be true.
I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn’t know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes. -Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast
Finally, a few notes from my Facebook friends:
- “As a Christian, when I meet my Maker, if He asked me why I supported [marriage equality], I will say that I couldn’t look in my brother’s face or in my sister’s face and tell him or her that their genuine, passionate love – one of God’s greatest creations – is invalid. That because of fate and politics, that they should live in fear and shame. I couldn’t look them in the face and tell them that and claim that there was love in my heart for them. I hope I don’t get judged for loving my fellow man in that way. But in either case, I doubt my judgement will depend on this one issue, so I’m willing to take that risk.”
- “I like to think that last night Obama was watching election results while sitting in his recliner and just said, ‘Oh fuck that noise.’”
- “Boom. POTUS finally backing same-sex marriage. Can someone tell all the old, stodgy conservatives to take their moral BS and get the eff out of the way? We don’t have time to waste and they’re just slowing everything down.”
