Well, it finally happened.
After years of fighting, campaigning and adversity, today the United States’ Supreme Court struck down both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as well as California’s Propostion 8. So close lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels, because America is going to have the biggest motherf**king kiki ever tonight. Via Gawker …
In a pair of rulings released this morning, the Supreme Court held that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and dismissed the Prop. 8 appeal—leaving the door open for gay marriage in California. In a reportedly very broad 5-4 decision on United States vs. Windsor, the liberal wing of the court and Justice Kennedy—who wrote the opinion—struck down DOMA on the grounds that it violates the Fifth Amendment, depriving a class of persons from their equal liberty. Justices Roberts and Scalia, both objecting on grounds of jurisdiction, wrote separate dissents; Scalia was joined by Thomas and in part by Roberts. Alito wrote a third dissent, joined in part by Thomas.
A couple thoughts here …
First off, this decision comes just two days before the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which started the gay rights movement in America. If you haven’t already, now would be an excellent time to look that up, because today is the culmination of decades of fighting for our rights. It’s incredibly easy to take for granted the rights and privileges we have today, but you have to remember: None of it would be here today if Marsha P. Johnson hadn’t thrown that first brick 44 years ago.
Second, we got handed a huge victory today. That being said, it’s not over by a long shot. There are still LGBT people all over the world in less forward-thinking areas who have to hide for fear of persecution. And you guys need to keep fighting in America for women’s rights and voters of color. We’re all different, but we all deserve the same rights and privileges as one another, and it ain’t over until everyone has the same legal standing as everyone else.