It was almost one month ago today, when the Supreme Court of the United states was deliberating on the constitutionality of several issues.
The momentum for marriage equality had been steadily building and the people where waiting, rallying outside their building .. wondering about the outcome.
I wasn’t there but I was surely keeping up with the news. Suddenly, there is was ….all over social media!
Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide
I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
It was beyond happiness, it was beyond belief.
It had become the “law of the land“.
No more waiting.
Marriage equality was legal nationwide.
This is only the first step after many efforts. I’m fully aware that there’s a lot still pending to be done and achieved. Yet, this moment in time, will forever be in my heart, mind and soul. This moment is ours.
Freedom to Marry is an organization which campaigns for the right of same-sex couples to marry in the United States. Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson, whom many consider to be the father of the modern marriage movement.
According to its “Roadmap to Victory”, Freedom to Marry is working “to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage” by winning same-sex marriage for more states, growing the national majority support for same-sex marriage, and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act a law it sees as discriminatory.
Freedom to Marry’s Roadmap to Victory is the three track strategy to end marriage discrimination in the United States. Since 2004 a growing number of states and the District of Columbia have ended same sex couple exclusion from marriage. By winning more states, we’ll prove that families are helped and no one is harmed. Marriage matters to gay families and together we’ll transform momentum by asking our friends and family to stand for the Freedom to Marry.
The untold story of the improbable campaign that finally tipped the U.S. Supreme Court.
May 18, 1970, Jack Baker and Michael McConnell walked into a courthouse in Minneapolis, paid $10, and applied for a marriage license. The county clerk, Gerald Nelson, refused to give it to them. Obviously, he told them, marriage was for people of the opposite sex; it was silly to think otherwise.
Baker, a law student, didn’t agree. He and McConnell, a librarian, had met at a Halloween party in Oklahoma in 1966, shortly after Baker was pushed out of the Air Force for his sexuality. From the beginning, the men were committed to one another. In 1967, Baker proposed that they move in together. McConnell replied that he wanted to get married—really, legally married. The idea struck even Baker as odd at first, but he promised to find a way and decided to go to law school to figure it out.
Last week, June 26, 2015, the high court reversed itself and declared that gays could marry nationwide.
“Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his sweeping decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
~~GALLERY~~
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The plaintiffs’ arguments in Obergefell were strikingly similar to those Baker made back in the 1970’s. And the Constitution has not changed since Baker made his challenge (save for the ratification of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment, on congressional salaries).
But the high court’s view of the legitimacy and constitutionality of same-sex marriage changed radically: In the span of 43 years, the notion had gone from ridiculous to constitutionally mandated.
TO READ THE FULL TIMELINE AND DETAILS, CLICK ON LINK BELOW
On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued a historic, sweeping ruling in favor of the freedom to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges. The unprecedented decision, decades in the making, will soon bring the freedom to marry to same-sex couples across the country, ending marriage discrimination once and for all.
The ruling means that same-sex couples throughout the entire nation will no longer be banned from the rights and responsibilities of marriage guaranteed by the Constitution.
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, celebrated joyously with the thousands of Americans couples who will finally be able to share in the fundamental freedom to marry the person they love. He said:
Today’s ruling is a transformative triumph decades in the making, a momentous victory for freedom, equality, inclusion, and above all, love.
For anyone who ever doubted that we could bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, today the United States again took a giant step toward the more perfect union we the people aspire to.
Today the Liberty Bell rings alongside wedding bells across an ocean of joy.
With the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the justices affirmed what a super-majority of Americans had come to understand: the freedom to marry is a precious, fundamental right that belongs to all, and that same-sex couples and our families share the same dreams and needs as any others.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning state bans on the freedom to marry making it possible for same-sex couples to marry across the country.
Congratulate the plaintiffs and legal teams who have fought so hard to end the marriage ban in Guam, soon to be the first U.S. territory with the freedom to marry!
By Lily Hiott-Millis
Jun 05, 2015 at 08:40 am
On June 5, a federal judge in Guam struck down the U.S. territory’s ban on marriage between same-sex couples
George W. Bush-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood ruled from the bench last night, after hearing oral arguments in a case. The case, Aguero et. al. v Calvo et. al., was brought by Loretta M. Pangelinan and Kathleen M. Aguero in April after they tried to get a marriage license and were denied.
The ruling is stayed until Tuesday, June 9, 8 am local time, which is when Judge Tydingco-Gatewood will also release her written opinion. The judge ruled in line with the 9th Circuit’s previous decision in favor of the freedom to marry in Latta v. Otter, which ended the marriage ban in Idaho, and Sevcik v. Sandoval, which ended the marriage ban in Nevada:
Guam’s marriage laws are unconstitutional because they violate the plaintiffs’ rights under the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution. Accordingly, the court shall permanently enjoin the territory of Guam and its officers … from enforcing … any laws or regulations to the extent they prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marrying in Guam.
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, emphasized the momentum for marriage ahead of a decision from the United States Supreme Court on the question of the freedom to marry:
Guam’s same-sex couples and their loved ones want and deserve the freedom to marry and all that marriage can bring — protections, security, and respect. We can now add Guam’s voice to the momentum across America, and hope the Supreme Court will this month ensure that no other families, and no state, are left behind.
Last May, attorneys for the government of Guam wrote that they would respect a ruling to strike down the territory’s marriage ban.
Freedom to Marry congratulates Kathleen and Loretta, as well as other same-sex couples who are finally respected in Guam, on this decision, and applauds Judge Tydingco-Gatwood for ruling on the right side of history.
#LoveWins: Historic Victory for Marriage Equality in Ireland
GLOBAL MOMENTUM
International Progress Toward the Freedom to Marry
“The global momentum for the freedom to marry reflects and reinforces the progress we are making here in the U.S. – and we look now to the Supreme Court to bring our country to national resolution,”
Evan Wolfson said today about historic Ireland marriage vote.
Nineteen countries have approved the freedom to marry for same-sex couples nationwide (Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, France, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Britain, Luxembourg, Finland and Ireland), while two others have regional or court-directed provisions enabling same-sex couples to share in the freedom to marry (Mexico and the United States).
In Slovenia, Parliament approved a marriage bill in March 2015 and is headed to the president’s desk. Many other countries provide some protections for such couples. As more and more countries and parts of the United States win the freedom to marry, we see that families are helped, and communities and countries made stronger, by protecting all loving committed couples.
Some may will think that I’m totally biased. In some sense I may have to agree. However, how can anyone judge another in matters of the heart? Love is love … one falls in love with the essence of the “better half”. The vessel in which that essence is kept should be irrelevant.
Souls fall in love with souls they recognize from before.
Love is love. It comes in many shapes and forms.
Who is anyone to judge?
How can this be anything but heartwarming?
I have used this video before. I used it before my marriage became legal in the state I live in. Now, as I watched is again …. the video takes on a new meaning “until I could” became my reality.
Tomorrow is my second month anniversary of legal wedded bliss.
Watch This Amazing Ode to Marriage Equality, by Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco
(9/21/14)
“Until We Could” is a poem by Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco — and a beautiful film from Freedom To Marry.
It is a decade since the U.S. first state, Massachusetts, enshrined marriage equality in law, and since the founding of campaign group Freedom To Marry (FTM). It has been a fruitful, frustrating decade, a bizarre range of weather systems of advances and losses—but mainly now, finally, advances.
To mark the 10 years, FTM commissioned Richard Blanco, the poet for Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, to write a poem commemorating the decade. So powerful was the result, titled “Until We Could,” the organization then commissioned a video to bring Blanco’s words to evocative life.
~~Until We Could~~
Richard Blanco
~~Published on Sep 21, 2014~~
Until We Could, a gorgeous new video poem written by Richard Blanco, celebrates love and the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The film is narrated by Golden Globe winning actress Robin Wright and actor Ben Foster.
Made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, imported to the USA
Richard Blanco’s mother, seven months pregnant, and the rest of the family arrived as exiles from Cuba to Madrid where he was born on February 15th, 1968. Forty-five days later, the family emigrated once more to New York City. Only a few weeks old, Blanco already belonged to three countries, a foreshadowing of the concerns of place and belonging that would shape his life and work. Eventually, the family settled in Miami where he was raised and educated. Growing up among close-knit Cuban exiles instilled in him a strong sense of community, dignity, and identity that he’d carry into his adult life as a writer.
read your dreams like butterflies flitting underneath
your eyelids ready to flutter into the room. Yes,
I praised you like a majestic creature my god forgot
to create till that morning of you suddenly tamed
in my arms, first for me to see, name you mine
Yes to the raise of your body breathing.
Yes, to all of you. Yes, I knew … but we still couldn’t.
I taught you how to dance Salsa by looking
into my Caribbean eyes, you learned to speak
in my tongue, while teaching me how to catch
a snowflake in my palms and love the grey
clouds of your grey hometown. Our years began
collecting in glossy photos time-lining our lives
across shelves and walls glancing back at us …
Us embracing in some sunset, more captivated
by each other than the sky blushed plum and rose.
Us claiming some mountain that didn’t matter
as much as our climbing it, together. Us leaning
against columns of ruins as ancient as our love
was new, or leaning into our dreams at a table
flickering candlelight in our full-mooned eyes.
I knew me as much as us, and yet … we couldn’t.
When the fiery kick lines and fires were set for us
by our founding mother-fathers at Stonewall,
we first spoke defiance. When we paraded glitter,
leather, and rainbows made human, our word
became pride down every city street, saying:
Just let us be. But that wasn’t enough. Parades
became rallies – bold words on signs and mouths
until a man claimed freedom as another word
for marriage and he said: Let us in. We said love
is love, proclaimed it into all eyes that would
listen at every door that would open until noes
and maybes turned into yeses, town by town.
city by city, state by state, understanding us
until the woman who dared enough say enough until
the gravel struck into law what we always knew
love it the right to say: I do and I do and I do.
and I do want is to see every tulip we’ve planted
come up spring after spring, a hundred more years
of dinners cooked over a shared glass of wine, and
a thousand more movies in bed. I do until our eyes
become voices speaking without speaking, until
like a cloud meshed into a cloud, there’s no more
you, me – our names are useless. I do want you to be
the last face I see – your breath my last breath
I do, I do and will and will for those who still can’t
vow it yet, but know love’s exact reason as much
as they know how a sail keeps the wind without
breaking, or how roots dig a way into the earth,
or how the stars open their eyes to the night, or
how a vine becomes one with the wall it loves, or
how, when I hold you, you are rain in my hands.
Disclaimer …. I’m not promoting donations of any kind. I use this graphic because if explicitly says what this “man of the law” is promoting in the state of Alabama.
I few days ago I posted about the fact that marriage equality was a go in Alabama. A very dear friend mentioned something about Roy Moore … I ask who he was. Now I know. I’m sure glad I don’t live in that state.
Blatantly ignoring the law — that’s what Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is doing. He’s not only refusing to honor same-sex marriages in Alabama, he’s ignoring the law and going on national television to encourage others to do the same.
We need to show this officer of the law that there is a resounding, overwhelming support for marriage equality.
~THIS MAN NEEDS TO GO~
Freedom to Marry launches video celebrating Alabama marriages
By Lily Hiott-Millis
Feb 13, 2015
Today, Freedom to Marry launched a new video celebrating the week marriages between same-sex couples began in Alabama. The video depicts the joy that same-sex couples and their families experienced when the stay on a previous ruling in Alabama was lifted and same-sex couples were able to get married.
The stay was lifted on Monday, February 9. Despite attempts to delay the freedom to marry coming to the state by Alabama Chief Justive Roy Moore, a federal judge issued an injuction on Thursday ordering the county of Mobile to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, signalling to the rest of the counties in Alabama that the state is ready for marriage.
The counties that are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couple is growing, bringing the number of counties issuing licenses to same-sex couples up to over half of the counties in Alabama — and 75% of the population of Alabama.
~~GALLERY~~
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Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
~The Freedom to Marry Comes to Alabama~
~Published on Feb 13, 2015~
On February 9, the freedom to marry came to Alabama and hundreds of same-sex couples got married. Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, ordered local probate judges to defy a federal court order that overturned the state’s ban on marriage for gay couples. This is the story of that amazing day.
Obama Welcomes Supreme Court Move To End “Patchwork” Marriage Laws Marriage equality has “hit a critical mass,” the president says in an interview with BuzzFeed News
Ben Smith … BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief
ChrisGerden …. BuzzFeed News Reporter
~WASHINGTON~
President Obama Tuesday, February 10, welcomed the Supreme Court’s signals that marriage equality is on the verge of becoming the law of the land, adding that he expected local Alabama officials resisting the shift to be swept aside by federal courts.
The Supreme Court Monday morning, February 9, refused to put on hold a federal court ruling striking down Alabama’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages while the ruling is appealed, with Justice Clarence Thomas making clear in a dissent that the court’s action would be seen as a sign the court will soon rule that the Constitution requires equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.
“My sense is that the Supreme Court is about to make a shift, one that I welcome, which is to recognize that — having hit a critical mass of states that have recognized same-sex marriage — it doesn’t make sense for us to now have this patchwork system,” Obama said in an interview with BuzzFeed News.
“It’s time to recognize that under the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution, same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else.”
Obama’s comments came on the second day in which same-sex couples were marrying in Alabama, the 38th state to allow same-sex couples to marry.
While Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has resisted the U.S. Supreme Court’s direction — going so far as to order probate judges on Feb. 8 not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — several judges began issuing licenses anyway Monday morning. Moore’s order, and several probate judges’ own views of the law or marriage, have kept more than half of the counties from issuing licenses, but same-sex couples are marrying in three of the state’s four biggest counties — Jefferson, Madison, and Montgomery Counties. The fourth, Mobile County, is the subject of a Thursday hearing before the federal judge who has already ruled that the marriage ban is unconstitutional.
Obama also dismissed Moore’s attempts to foil the various federal courts’ moves, invoking Moore’s last high-profile clash with federal law over his efforts to bring a religious monument into the state supreme court building.
That dispute ended with his removal from the bench.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, February 10, President Barack Obama said that a “patchwork system” for same-sex marriage doesn’t make sense, adding it is time to recognize marriage equality for same-sex couples.
It Is What It Is 