I am tremendously grateful that the Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage---this is an extraordinary and historic decision, one I am amazed as well as grateful to live to see. I am overwhelmed by the eloquent conclusion of the decision, written by Justice Kennedy:
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
My only disappointment in the decision was that it was a narrow 5--4 margin. I had hoped that Justice Roberts would join the majority. But in his dissenting opinion, Roberts voices his concern that such a profound change in marriage shouldn't be effected by five lawyers; he believes this will make this change more difficult for the public to accept. This is a reasonable concern. But Roberts also describes the purpose of marriage as being to support procreation, which is a limited view of marriage. And unfortunately, Roberts emphasizes how ancient and universal heterosexual marriage is. This is unfortunate, since in fact, there is clear historical precedent for same-sex unions, and in a wide variety of cultures. And the fact that same-sex unions were not recognized for so long in European or Christian cultures says less about the lack of a precedence for such unions (or the exclusive status of heterosexual unions) and more about the thousands of years of oppression in European or Christian cultures against gay people. It's extremely important to remember this---today's decision is not arbitrary or abrupt, it is in fact only a belated victory against thousands of years of oppression, oppression that was never anything more than an expression of ancient taboos in our culture. Indeed, the decision today was inevitable once the medical and scientific community determined 40 years ago that homosexuality is not a mental illness or disorder, a discovery driven in part by the realization that contrary to prejudice and stereotypes, gay people can and do form permanent and deeply loving relationships. My many gay and lesbian friends who have recently married, who are in decades-long committed relationships, demonstrate this. And I am celebrating with them today's extraordinary victory.