DOMA and Proposition 8: The Long War

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The Supreme Court of the United States dealt a major blow today to anti-equality proponents everywhere by striking down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor and dismissing Hollingsworth v. Perry, effectively invalidating California's Proposition 8 and legalizing same-sex marriage in California.  A momentous day, to be sure - and we liberals should be proud of what we have accomplished in such a short time to bring marriage equality to all fifty states.  This was a victory well-earned, in a battle well-fought.

However, one battle is not enough to decide who wins the war for equality.  The danger of SCOTUS' dismissal of Hollingsworth v. Perry is in that the dismissal does not strike down other anti-equality laws already in place in many conservative states, and those conservative states that do not already have same-sex marriage bans will soon start the process - there is no better way to rile up a social conservative than making him look like a fool in the Supreme Court.  The Republican Party is now gunning for a fight - and they'll beat this dead horse to a pulp to ensure their Bible-thumping ideology will be adhered to in as many states as possible.

It is for this reason that, as a good friend noted to me today, I am not nearly as excited as my fellow liberals when it comes to SCOTUS' decisions today.  Call me a cynic, but I truly believe that the fight for marriage equality in all fifty states is just about to get tougher.  Conservatives do not take getting beat easily, and they excel at mobilizing in support of a cause, no matter how misguided that cause may be.  It is the blessing of being a social conservative - the lack of an informed social conservative base makes it very easy to see complex issues in black-and-white.

What this all comes down to is that we liberals are in for a long, hard slog to ensure that LBGTQ individuals are treated as equals across all fifty states.  DOMA's execution is a big step in the right direction, but true equality can only be reached when same-sex couples can be treated the same as heterosexual couples in the eyes of the law - and I am not talking just about the right to marry.

In 27 states, a gay man can be fired just for who he loves.  In 10 states, gay individuals and couples are not allowed to adopt, while 16 states are ambiguous as to whether they want to allow LBGTQ individuals and couples to adopt.  Across the United States, LBGTQ individuals are degraded and humiliated in schools, the workplace, and at home just because of who they love.  How is that fair?  How does that fit into our immortal Declaration that "all men are created equal?"  How dare we, the self-declared paragon of freedom and equality, be so heinously hypocritical as to demand one thing from other countries on the international stage while simultaneously denying a large portion of Americans the same rights?  It is a tragedy, it is a travesty, and it means that us, as progressives, have a long fight ahead of us, and, while we may celebrate in our victory, we must understand that this victory is small, and we cannot rest - no, we WILL not rest - until we ensure that all men are truly equal.

I stand before you, my fellow liberals, and the rest of America, and declare that I am, always have, and forever will be, a soldier for the cause of equality for all, in the spirit of that immortal Declaration that made us Americans, and I hope you will all join me in the fight to ensure that our LBGTQ brethren, from Hawaii to Maine, from Anchorage to El Paso, can stand with the rest of us as equals in the eyes of the law.

That is all for today.  Class dismissed.