Celebrate, But Keep Fighting For Equality

The gay men and women of California have more than 1100 reasons to be happy today, and several dozen reminders that the path to equality is far from over.

Many of us woke up yesterday morning to a sense of dread (that’s, if we had to get up before 7:00am pacific time), or to incredible news; the United States Supreme Court had struck down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, and remanded an appeals case on California’s Proposition 8 back to the lower courts.

Effectively, gay men and women in California now have the legal right to marry, and the federal government will recognize those marriages, along with all the corresponding rights and responsibilities.

As a gay man, I celebrated last night.  I went to West Hollywood so I could see the plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case speak in person.  I heard Ted Olson and David Boies, the attorneys who argued against Prop. 8 before the courts, tell us about the debt of gratitude we owe those plaintiffs for their incredible testimony.  It was a wonderful evening, one filled with joy and excitement.  My outlook on the future is much brighter for having seen real equality achieved here in California.

But not everyone would have you believe there is reason to celebrate.

An acquaintance of mine wrote that today’s rulings are a “shallow victory.” He claims that while other states are capable of doing what they please with marriage, and that, in light of the Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act earlier this week, that we have no right to celebrate.

I respectfully disagree.

Certainly we need to look ahead to the fight to bring marriage equality to the 37 other states in the union that don’t currently allow gay men and women to marry each other.  Certainly we need to keep an eye out to ensure that the nine states previously affected by the Voting Rights Act don’t enact new rules blocking the vote to minorities in their districts. 

But we shouldn’t ignore the fact that today the Supreme Court made decisions that should bring federal protections to gay, bi-national couples; that overturn 56 months of discrimination against gays and lesbians in California; that mean thousands of gay people in this state can marry in the very near future.

So remember the 37 states that don’t have full marriage equality.  Remember the minorities in the south that stand a real chance at losing out on an opportunity to vote.  And remember today to take an opportunity to step up and do something about those peoples’ plight.  But don’t regret for a moment that you took an opportunity to celebrate a very real victory.