Saying “I Do” to Equality

The year is 2014.

People can carry whole lives full of information and pictures in a phone the size of a deck of cards. There’s an African American president who raps on late night talk shows and an ATM that will dispense a cupcake. Yet in 2014, there are same-sex couples that can’t legally bind their union because they’re a same-sex couple.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

I had a funny post done, but that’s going to wait because this past Friday my state of Michigan ruled the same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, making it the 18^th state to allow gays and lesbians to get married just like their heterosexual counterparts.

People who have been in committed relationships for decades ran to the courthouses to make it official that afternoon, with one couple who had been together for 25 years and adopted five special needs children quoted as saying, “We’re going to actually be a legalized family, a recognized family by everyone.”

This is all wonderful—as in, “actually-made-Abby-the-Ice-Queen-cry-a-little”—wonderful.

But then you know what happened? Less than 24 hours later the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the gay marriage ban back in effect through Wednesday, “to allow a more reasoned consideration of the motion.” Hundreds of couples that were lined up to legalize their unions were turned away that day.

A bishop was quoted as saying that the ruling sought to alter “the fundamental meaning and structure of marriage that has existed from the beginning.”

Needless to say, what the hell?

In 2014, people like the Kardashians and overpaid celebrities caught cheating or doing drugs don’t only dominate the headlines, they are fully supported and encouraged. People watch their shows or buy the magazines dedicated to exposing their often questionably moral yet “glamorous” lives.

A celebrity marriage that lasts only 72 days? That’s fine because it’s entertainment, right? But a loving same-sex couple legalizing their union in an effort to be seen as equal citizens in the eyes of the state? Sorry, but we’re going to spend more tax payer money fighting that notion while continuing to hold up  “the fundamental meaning and structure of marriage that has existed from the beginning.”

Prohibiting gays and lesbians from marrying does not stop them from forming families and raising children. Nor does prohibiting same-sex marriage increase the number of “healthy” heterosexual marriages or the number of well-adjusted and loved children raised by heterosexual parents.

Don’t get me wrong.

I am glad I live in a time when things like this can be happening—there are 17 states where it’s legal—and constant steps are being taken towards equality in every way, shape or form. The opportunities exist for people to be anything that they want to be, more or less, but yet some still choose to be ignorant.

And since it’s a time when everyone can go online and broadcast their opinions to the world — and hide behind a screen or an outdated status quo— we also see the darker side of things. We see the backlash, the gender gaps, the discrimination.

I have to admit that I’m not surprised though, seeing as earlier this year a Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial couple and their daughter generated such a strong racist backlash on YouTube that the comments section had to be closed.

In 2014.

I’ll just wrap this up by saying I’m not gay and honestly, I’ll probably never get married. It’s just not my thing. But while the happiness of others doesn’t threaten my own, the ignorance of others does.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

Hopefully better times are up ahead.

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