Love wins: A rainbow-hued celebration

#LoveWins
via Human Rights Campaign

Friday morning, Peeper and I were playing on the floor when Eric walked in. Barely taking his eyes off his phone, he asked, “Did you hear?”

The news he was talking about—the Supreme Court’s decision that overturns states’ bans on same-sex marriage—the “justice that arrives like a thunderbolt”—bowled me over. I of course began to cry because I’m a giant ball of emotions these days. I immediately thought of our same-sex friends whose marriages were now recognized by the federal government, the people in states like Ohio and Kentucky can now enjoy the legal benefits and social recognition of marriage, and the plaintiffs who fought for harrowing years in Obergefell v. Hodges case so that gay and lesbian couples nationwide could marry, too.

Peeper, being the empathetic little bug she is, gave me a hug. “Mama feels better now,” she said.

Indeed, Mama felt wonderful.  Read more

“Let us look to each other and rise”

Yesterday was an effin’ big day for Oregon: A judge effectively struck down a constitutional amendment that limited marriage to heterosexual people. As of yesterday at noon, same-sex couples can now have their union recognized by the state and enjoy the rights that come along with marriage.

I am so happy and so relieved.

I’m thrilled for my friends who can now marry in the state (including some who wasted no time and got re-hitched yesterday in Eugene!). I was in tears over the newlywed strangers embracing after brief and public ceremonies.

Finally, their expressions of joy said.

Finally.

I am proud that my daughter will grow up in a state that no longer condones and enforces marriage inequality. I imagine that she will look back on this fight and be just as confused and frustrated as my generation is when we consider laws against interracial marriage.

My daughter will be able to marry the person whom she loves, man or woman. I’m grateful that this is one less injustice she’ll have to rail against.

As US District Judge Michael McShane, the judge who overturned the amendment, said yesterday,

“Let us look less to the sky to see what might fall; rather, let us look to each other … and rise.”

My heart is soaring, and I can feel us all rising together.