Many things to be thankful for on this Gratitude Monday,
but I’m going to focus on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday that marriage is
a basic human right regardless of one’s sexual preference. And that it may not
be infringed upon or denied by any state.
Truthfully—I did not think that would come out of a court
that gave us whack-job decisions like Bush v. Gore and Citizens United v. FEC.
This is about gratitude, so I’m not going to spend a lot
of time on how a small minority of Americans are reacting to the ruling with
scripture-infused hissy fits. If a SCOTUS decision didn’t piss off a segment of
society, they wouldn’t be doing their job. I believe they ruled not only
correctly but compassionately, and that’s not something you find every day
anywhere in our nation’s capital.
Obviously there are many elements to work out. Obergefell
v. Hodges speaks to the right to marry in civil law; how various religious and
other institutions deal with it in a freedom-of-expression context will make interesting
watching. (Eyes on you, caterers and cake bakers.)
What’s clear is that no civil authority—state or local—may
now refuse to issue two adults a license to marry and to live their lives as a
married couple. As a historian who focuses on the catastrophic human costs of
warfare—ingesting the statistics and the stories of how hate, fear, greed,
pride, power-hunger and other motivations drive us to kill one another in our
tens of thousands—it seems to me to be a good thing that we recognize and
encourage men and women to instead to live in love and mutual support.
For those with religious objections to the notion of
marriage equality—I understand that you’re disappointed, and I’m sorry about
that. Pray, if you like. March and wave flags. But obey the law.
As for those counties in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana,
Utah and Tennessee that are scuffing their toes in the dirt and proclaiming, “Well,
okay then—we just won’t issue marriage licenses to anyone! So, there!”—what are
you, like FOUR?
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