Today, California decided that Proposition 8 – which restricted marriage to same-sex marriages only – was a valid democratic action, did not overstep any civil liberties, but could not nullify the near 18,000 same-sex marriages that were carried out before the proposition was passed. One for three. Too bad this isn’t baseball.
When two people swear – before themselves and before others, (and before God, or whatever religious deities they believe in – or none at all if they’re atheist, because atheists are also perfectly allowed to marry) to affirm their love in mind and heart – that is marriage, regardless of what the state recognizes.
The state of California has neither the right nor the ability to change that.
When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, did slaves suddenly turn from property into people? No – of course not. They were always people, regardless of the legal system’s inability to classify them as such. Their current legal status had no bearing on what they are, or what they were. And in reality, even the legal recognition didn’t lead to equality – and even the beginnings of that dreamed-of condition would not seriously appear for another one hundred years.
And even then, the greatest leader of that movement was murdered.
I will never know what it feels like to be told that my love cannot result in a marriage. I don’t like living in a state – or a country – where others are not so fortunate, for reasons they cannot control.
Charlie