Five years may be the blink of an eye on the road to justice, but when you’ve celebrated victory only to have it snatched away, when the fundamental worth of your family has been actively denied at the ballot box, it can seem like a very, very long time. Now, after five long, painful years, marriage equality is once again a reality in the state of California. The passage of Prop. 8 pitted neighbor against neighbor and left a deep and wrenching wound, but the healing has now begun.
These last few weeks have been amazing in so many ways. We’ve reconnected with the many dedicated people who worked so hard in the fight against Prop. 22 and Prop. 8 – and this time it was to celebrate! Long-term couples are finally receiving federal benefits. The military is actually treating same-sex spouses and their families as families. And since DOMA Article 3 was ruled unconstitutional, we’ve even seen bi-national same-sex couples receive marriage-based green cards for the first time!
We are such an incredibly and richly diverse community. We are gay. We are lesbian. We are bisexual. We are transgender. We are people of color. We are families. We are immigrants. We are part of every community and they are part of us. Today we have more allies than at any time in our history, standing and fighting for civil rights on our behalf, just as we stand and fight on their behalf. “They” are “us”. We understand better that we are all fighting the same battle for justice and equality.
The world is changing. These truly are civil rights decisions for the history books. Their effects on our loves, our families, our friends and our renewed energy in the fight for equality are monumental. These victories have galvanized our community to reach farther and fight even harder. There are still 37 states with bans on marriage equality. There are more issues for us to focus on that deeply affect our community – transgender rights, LGBT community health, reproductive justice and women’s health, voting rights and protections, immigration. We understand how much work we have to do and we know what it takes – and we are recommitted to doing it!
For Californians, the decision on Proposition 8 will close the door on an ugly chapter in our state’s history, where for the first – and hopefully only – time we allowed our state Constitution to be cheapened and soiled by writing into it discrimination against a particular group of Californians. Those dark days are over.
We celebrate the return of marriage equality in California and will continue in the fight to extend it nationwide. We renew our commitment to justice for all. And, perhaps most importantly, we extend our deepest thanks to all those who have worked so hard on all these issues and who have shown our entire nation what true love and commitment looks like.
Today we are absolutely, fiercely proud.
