This past Friday the US Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is a fundamental right and that two people, regardless of sex have the right to marry. In my opinion, it's about damn time! Now this isn't a popular belief in my small town nor is it something everyone in my family agrees with.
They are firmly in the belief that homosexual relationships are against God and that the "bible says a marriage is between a man and a woman". To them and all others who oppose this ruling I ask what the hell are you talking about? When was marriage defined as a religious union between one man and one woman? Back in ancient Greece when marriage would occur to secure property and it would be common for one man to marry multiple wives and for a wife to divorce her husband to marry a cousin/male relative when her father died to secure family property? Or was it during the Roman Empire when the chief function of marriage was to change the status of a women from that of a maid to that of a mother and thus secure the lineage of any children produced from the union?
In modern times we define marriage as a union of love which creates and binds a family unit together. Is love a unique experience to heterosexual couples and do they then have a superior right to the protection under the law that marriage provides? I think not. Marriage is part of the American Dream. The idea that at the end of the day we as Americans (and as humans) have the right to formulate our own family unit and to love, nurture and provide a future for the world's next generation is fundamental to our pursuit of happiness.
I am proud to say I live in a country where equal protection to marry is granted under the law regardless of sex or gender. It's about damn time that my friends and family have the rights to marry those they love and I am looking forward to more weddings and celebrations of love to come!
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