Happy Pride Nation Wide!

In the wake of all the crap that can sometimes be the United States, today I can say that I am DAMN proud to be an American. You guys, I think we did something right! The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in favor of love and marriage for all its citizens. 

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy delivered the majority opinion with heartfelt words:

“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. 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.”

As well it should. I am amazed it took us this long to get here, but I am so glad we finally made it. 

Before I leave (to go find rainbow things to wear and then go dance in the streets), I want to remember a night not too long ago, when my state (New York) legalized same-sex marriage.  When I heard the wonderful news that night, I began to cry: big, happy tears. A few of the people that I was with asked me why I was so happy. "Are  you gay?" they wondered. As if, only someone who was gay should be this happy about a couple's right to marriage. I responded to their asinine question with a glare, and continued celebrating. What I now realize I should have said, when they asked me if the reason I was so happy was because I was gay, my response should have been: "It doesn't matter. I'm human."

LGBT rights are not solely an LGBT issue. These rights, as with ALL civil rights, are HUMAN rights. The oppressed should never stand alone. Stand for yourself. Stand with others. Stand for the citizens of the world who have a right to be themselves safely and happily. 

"If I am not for me, who will be?

If I am only for me, who am I?

If not now, when?"

-Rabbi Hillel