We won our #dignity and #freedom as #LGBT in America
We won our #dignity and #freedom as #LGBT in America
I am still in shock. My body is shaking, unsure whether I should laugh or cry, dance or scream. Maybe there is a way to do it all at the same time.
Honestly, I never thought this day would come. I remember how I felt the day my state banned my rights by constitutional amendment. It hurt, but I knew that my state and country default to hate and denial of dignity. We have never been good at respecting basic human rights.
I want to feel like this is a victory, because it is, but I still don't feel like I am awake. Reality has merged with my dreams in a way that I can't believe happened.
This feeling, smiling while on the verge of tears, is one of the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced. Today, I am finally a full citizen in my country.
“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.”
The tide of progress marches forward, and our understanding of liberty and oppression grow over time. As science continues to offer us a better understanding of the world as it is, we see the foolishness of past generations in the clear light of wisdom. All humans are equal. All humans.
“It is now clear that the challenged laws burden the liberty of same-sex couples, and it must be further acknowledged that they abridge central precepts of equality … Especially against a long history of disapproval of their relationships, this denial to same-sex couples of the right to marry works a grave and continuing harm. The imposition of this disability on gays and lesbians serves to disrespect and subordinate them. And the Equal Protection Clause, like the Due Process Clause, prohibits this unjustified infringement of the fundamental right to marry.”
To read the court calling the discrimination I have lived with my entire life "unjustified infringement" is one of those moments beyond words. I have been married to the person I love for almost two decades. Married in the eyes of God, but not in the state I live in. To be told that our relationship was a danger to the country hurt. Now, we can start planning a wedding...
These words now cover my community too:
“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
It is hard to express my joy. I am sure this post makes me sound like a rambling idiot, but I had to say something, and I had to say it now. I am an equal citizen in my country. After 37 years of second class citizenship, I am now equal. We are now equal.