A Step in the Right Direction



     Today the United States Supreme Court finally made two rulings that many (myself included) consider milestones towards our society finally providing equal rights for all its citizens.  The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was ruled unconstitutional and California Proposition 8 was claimed invalid.  What does this mean?  For the DOMA ruling, this means same sex married couples will be able to receive the same benefits as a straight married couple would receive after they marry.  It also means that states that do not have same sex marriages legalized have to recognize the same sex couple as a married couple if they move.  For CA Prop. 8, this means that same sex marriages are once again legal in California.  

      Why am I writing about this historic day in my blog? Because I am a very big supporter of equal rights for all.  It is a shame that a government, which serves the people, still denies certain rights to its citizens based on their lifestyle.  In a society, every person deserves the same rights as the person standing next to him.  A majority of opposers to allowing same sex marriage are the more religious people in our American society.  Not all opposers, but many.  They believe that marriage is sacred, and it must be between a man and a woman.  I am perfectly fine with this belief, and I do feel the government can not force any religion to preform same sex marriages.  That would not be a separation of church and state.  But civil marriage needs to be fully allowed for same sex couples.  

     I had to follow all the news about the supreme court's rulings from the car during our vacation to New York (thats another blog that will come later on).  As we finally got to New York City, I was walking around near NYU, and noticed many people showing their support for equality through clothing, hanging pride flags, and walking around with the equal human rights flag (see logo image above.).  That made we happy to see this, and for quite a few blocks.  It is proof that we as a society are getting more supportive.  We still have a way to go, for these rulings are small, but it is a step in the right direction.  Of course, same sex equality rights are not the only rights that we need to work on to work towards the goal of equal rights for all (ex: Infant Female vs. Male Circumcision) but that is for other blog posts and fights in the future.  I am just proud we are moving forward as Americans, and I am proud to be a supporter.  Love is love.  Hopefully, we will come to a day were we will no longer need labels, example: gay, bisexual, lesbian, eta.  Hopefully, we can all just look at ourselves as humans, and everything is excepted.  Sadly, since this process is slow, this will probably not happen in my life time.  

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