There are some moments in my Life when I am really proud to be American. The election of our first Black President was one and today another one occured with the Supreme Court ruling ruling that makes same sex marriage legal in every state. It is the right thing and about time.
I am overjoyed for my LGBT friends, who for so long have had to feel, like second class citizens, simply for their sexual preference. I have always thought it was ridiculous to deny any two people, crazy in Love enough to want to do this wacky Life together, a travesty of justice. My views were strenghtened when I saw a movie back in the ’90’s about the Lovings, the couple who took their case for interracial marriage to the Supreme Court. That ruling in that case made interracial marriage legal in 1967. I realized that if interracial marriage was not legal until 1967, it meant that some of my relatives were never able to be legally married. My Mama just kinda said “Well,” when I queried her about it confirming that while they lived together, they were not able to legally marry. This made me think of how awful that must be. We, heterosexual people, take the right to fall in Love and marry as such a basic one. Imagine never being able to really be committed to someone you Love. I just can’t and am very happy, that now, no one has to.
I am also very proud of President Obama on this topic. Early in his Presidency, he was not as strong as I felt he needed to be on this. I wrote him several times, pointing out that as a biracial person, the same arguments and laws being used against same sex marriage would have prevented his parents from being married.
I am not naive enough to think that the fight for equal rights is over for people of color or the LGBT community. However, at least now, we have proper laws on the books, that mandate right thinking.
