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The State of Marriage Equality Nationwide:

2015

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[rainbow]

June 26, 2015:

Today, nationwide marriage equality was achieved in the US. I have waited all 29 years of my life for this moment to come true. Thank you.

The ruling is available here.

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 be come 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. I 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 civiliza tion's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

It takes effect immediately in all states. Christian political bigots like Texas Gov Greg Abbott are willing to block courthouse doors (à la 1963) and gum up the works, but they have zero legal authority to do so.

We still have battles in the larger war for LGBT equality to fight. And as a 5:4 ruling, it serves as a nail-biting reminder of the precipice that the future of our country is teetering on. But this is a day to celebrate...and rejoice that in one important metric, the world just got a little bit better.

Greta Christina says:

I'm tickled pink about this, for all the obvious reasons. I'm actually finding myself uncharacteristically tongue-tied: this is so obvious, it has been so obvious for so long, I'm finding it hard to put into words exactly why this is important and wonderful. Marriage equality is, you know, equality. Millions of couples around the United States are no longer second-class: our marriages are seen as fully valid, with the same rights and responsibilities as any other. To put it in personal terms: Every year, Ingrid and I go to Skepticon in Missouri. This year, it'll be the first time we won't have the constant worry in the back of our minds, "What happens if one of us gets sick or hurt? What happens if some asshole at the hospital decides not to let us make medical decisions for each other, or even let us visit each other — because they think gay sex makes baby Jesus cry?"

Now, multiply that by millions. Millions of couples around the country can now visit each other in the hospital, make medical decisions for each other, adopt kids together, file state income taxes together, travel from state to state without their marriages disappearing and re-appearing and disappearing again.

Now, we need to put our momentum to work. Let's use our marriage equality victory as a foundation for ending workplace and housing discrimination in all 50 states, banning reparative therapy as the abusive quackery that it is, and taking concrete steps to protect transgender lives and civil rights. If we can win the marriage battle against odds that seemed insurmountable 20 years ago, we can win anything.


February 2, 2015:

What happened in the last three months?

These blows landed me in a funk that I still haven't escaped from...hence, the lack of updates. But meanwhile...

I'm none pleased to have to add cross-and-elephant icons to the tables below. Legislators may not be able to repeal marriage equality in the states that have it now, but they will spite us by allowing bigoted employers to fire LGBT workers with impunity and by passing newspeak-named "religious freedom" bills to ensure that bigots have the special right to deny public accommodations to LGBT people if they cite their god while doing so. Anti-discrimination statutes and "reparative therapy" child-abuse bans have no chance of being tabled (let alone passing) in any state where the Christian-nationalist Republican Party has lockstep control.

A silver lining of the Sixth Circuit's split is that it forced the Supreme Court to take a marriage case and tackle the issue sooner rather than later...and although I take any matter before the five injustices of SCOTUS with trepidation, the real possibility exists that we could have marriage equality in all fifty states by the middle of this year.


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