Celebrate equal rights for marriage
The U. S. Supreme Court has come down on the right side of history and the cause of civil rights, guaranteeing same- sex couples the right to marry.
A great nation now can reaffirm its dedication to the ideal of equality for all. The celebration unfolding this weekend is not just for the same- sex couples whose unions will be honored nationwide, but for all Americans who understand that recognizing the rights of others does not diminish their own.
Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the decisive vote in the 5- 4 decision and wrote a poignant majority decision, undoubtedly cognizant of its place in history. He declared in the final paragraph:
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. … 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. … They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
Then there’s Justice Antonin Scalia, staking out his ground as a relic, like jurists and politicians who a half- century ago tried to block the movement for racial equality.
Scalia supported all the dissenting opinions but couldn’t resist tossing in his own. “I write separately to call attention to this Court’s threat to American democracy,” he said, and it goes downhill from there.
“If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote,” he wrote, “I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: ‘ The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,’ I would hide my head in a bag.”
If we were handing out bags today, it would not be to Kennedy. It’s true that the founding fathers didn’t explicitly grant gay rights. But at least they never explicitly declared gays to be second- class citizens who could be held as slaves, as they did African- Americans.
It was not long ago that being gay in America meant a choice between hiding your identity and being demonized as an outcast. In some states, it meant risking a prison sentence. But the tide has been turning for decades. Only 13 states had not yet permitted gay marriage when the court ruled, and a number of other nations are ahead of us on this.
Churches can define marriage as they wish — some still won’t marry interracial couples — but same- sex couples no longer will be denied the secular rights and responsibilities that state and federal laws confer under the legal definitions of marriage. That was the underlying issue in this case, and the majority including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan understood it.
Kennedy’s rhetorical flourishes will not wipe out prejudice or discrimination, but they block a path that had allowed states to ground that discrimination in law. We are grateful.