The request to those who advocated most strenuously for marriage equality to observe magnanimity in “victory” is short-sighted. There was no victory, no score, no feather on a cap.
Same-sex couples do not exist to “win” anything. They exist out of long-term love and affection, and they exist for that same purpose.
That gays were made into targets of culture warriors is a major tragedy, albeit not as grievous of an offense as the scapegoating, criminalization, demeaning and incarceration of homosexuality into a forced closet.
There was no victory, only realizations. A realization of unconstitutionality, a realization of forcible impoverization, a realization of meaningless, unreasonable denial of humanity and worth.
Yesterday, our nation, as a whole, realized yet another facet of our inhumanity toward other Americans, and reduced that inhumanity a bit more than the last time that we made such a reduction.
It is a progression, one on which individualists and communitarians alike will evolve in their own ways, but hopefully will not devolve in irrational disgust.
Let’s move forward.
Reblogged this on Pink Peach News and commented:
I wrote this on another blog on the occasion of the victory in Windsor v. United States. This week, the Hawaii State Senate will send a bill legalizing marriage equality to their state governor, Neil Abercrombie, signifying the end of a 20-year era since a state court became the first in the country to rule that same-sex couples ought to get married.
Meanwhile, next year will be 10 years since Georgians voted to ban state recognition of same-sex couples. Just like Hawaii, may we similarly mature as a state, sooner rather than later.