After Kennedy, we fight to keep our rights

Back on June 26, 2015, advocates of marriage equality celebrated our Supreme Court ruling 5-4 that our love is valid with “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”

After Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, a number of my Democratic friends said they hadn’t felt so despondent about our government since Election Day 2016.

I understand why: Civil rights are at stake, after decades of progress for women, immigrants, LGBTQ people and so many others.

One of my out and married constitu- ents told me that LGBTQ people “never get what we want the first time we ask.” And sometimes, all of us, no matter our identities, have to keep fighting for what’s right even after we’ve obtained it. Despondency isn’t sustainable. Defiance is.

With defiance comes action and with action comes work, work that begins in the states. It’s time to get to work.

Delegate Danica Roem, D-13th, represents the city of Manassas Park and Prince William County in the Virginia House of Delegates.