Same Love: Equality for One and All

“If a couple of gay guys want to throw the gayest, most fabulous
wedding of all time, the only way it should offend you is if
you weren’t invited.” 
― Orlando Winters, boywritesmiami.com

It is an historic day in America.  Two measures of perhaps the biggest civil rights   debates of our generation are being brought before the highest court in our land. (Of course, "our generation" depicts those of us who were not necessarily around for the Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's)  These are truly the biggest collective fights of our lives, to date.  Prop 8 and DOMA have been highly contested over the more recent years as Americans become more CLOSELY divided on the subject of marriage equality. As the US Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on these cases, we all wait with bated breath to determine which way history will be made within our world - in which way will the fabric of our nation be changed?

On one hand, arguments will ultimately decide the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which banned all same-sex marriages within the state in 2008.  After a ballot measure and state constitutional amendment was passed and approved, the law was changed to say "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."  Certainly this was met with many dissenting opinions from LGBT persons and supporters throughout the state and ultimately the country. This has cycled over the years until ultimately we have been brought to today, when the Supreme Court will ultimately be put into a position

where a decision must be made on whether or not that amendment was/is constitutional within the confines of our legal system.  This is expected to be a close vote between the justices where a swing vote will ultimately be required for a narrow ruling.

The second measure, to be considered tomorrow, is that of DOMA or the Defense of Marriage Act.  The high- (or low-) lights of this federal law include a definition that marriage is legal union of a man and a woman for federal and inter-state recognition purposes in the United States.  It also states legally married couples of the same sex don't have the same eligibility for tax, pension and some other items as heterosexual counterparts.  Similar to Prop 8, DOMA supporters continue defending a law that others find discriminatory and unconstitutional - this case dealing more with equal protection under the law moreso than equal rights of marriage.  The decision to be handed down from the US Supreme Court is in response to a case from an 80+ year old New York woman who sued the federal government after she was forced to pay estate taxes to the tune of more than $360k.  The two women were married in Canada in 2007 after being together for about 40 years.  DOMA didn't recognize their union as legal, despite their traveling to Canada being a legal ceremony (Canadian provinces started recognizing same-sex marriage as legal in 2003 and ultimately mid-2005 throughout the country).

Regardless of the side on which you fall for this (these) issue(s), we cannot deny the monumental impact this will have on the world we, as Americans, live in and hold so dear.  I'm always shocked when African Americans tend to deny these to be issues of civil rights.  It seems there is some murky line of distinction between the Gay Rights Initiative and the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's.  It is as if the two didn't hold the same fundamental truths of equal protection under the law and overall equality for all men (and women) within our country.  Do they not ask the same things?  Is the LGBT community not merely a subset of the overall conglomerate of Americans who do/did not reap the same benefits outlined as requirements for all Americans?  Clearly I understand the hesitation and possible reasons for otherwise pensive thought processes with regard to this (that's a completely different topic all together), however right is right and wrong is wrong.

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Recently, I discovered a song by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis from their Album The Heist (released October 9, 2012) entitled "Same Love."  When I first heard this song, I was so astonished that I had not heard about it before. It speaks to many fundamental truths that I couldn't believe anyone - let alone a heterosexual man! - would step up to say these things.  I'm not going to review it, but I do want you to hear the song. I've also just discovered there is a video for it.  Being the sap I am, of course I shed two or three - or seven or nine - tears while watching it.  There are many immediate similarities one could draw to their own lives - myself included.

All in all, these situations are dealing with HUMAN rights - not just civil rights. Perhaps this term sits better on the tongues of the African Americans who deny the similarities or blatant absolution.  The fight seems to be more about ensuring we all receive the same opportunities, rights, perks, benefits, consequences and anything else warranted for being an American under the laws of our great nations.  It's not SIMPLY about being able to marry who you want - but more about receiving what I should be entitled as an American citizen.

"A certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all, but it's a damn good place to start!"

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