A More Perfect Union: Let’s Just Call it “Marriage” Now
by Doug Porter
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling Friday morning was a historic victory for gay rights. The majority said the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live.
“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.
As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage.
Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.
Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.
The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered. “
-Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority
This decision is the culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion, just as he did in three other major gay rights cases dating back to 1996.
The ruling immediately effects the 14 states in the South and Midwest with bans on same sex marriage in place. The other 36 states have already eliminated their bans through legislative action, court rulings and initiatives.
From Doug Porter’s column at SDFP.
MORE COMING …
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Thank you Mr. Porter and obrag. Justice Kennedy’s writing re: the ruling is beautiful.