Justice has been served. As most of you are probably fully aware, District Chief Justice Vaughn R. Walker, ruling on the case Kristin M. Perry v. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has overturned California's infamous "Proposition 8," which banned gay marriage within the State. The ruling was deemed unconstitutional and in violation of our 14th amendment right to equal protection. Attorney General Jerry Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chose not to oppose the lawsuit, citing the proposition's violation of the 14th amendment. Appeals were filed this morning by proposition 8 supporters in the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, and Walker will make a final ruling on Friday. But as it stands, those of us who believe in equality and fairness have taken one giant leap forward today.
This ruling serves as a duly-deserved slap in the face to the ignorant in this country. The people who claim god's will in the midst of chanting hate-speech. The people who order their children to march down our streets holding disgusting, offensive, intolerant signs. The pertinacious, feeble-minded, soulless drones who chant religious dogma and assault the core values of our nation with vile rhetoric. The proponents of the hyperbolic belief that gay marriage would somehow destroy the sanctity of marriage, a claim that not one amongst them can support with any fact or form or prose. This ruling was undoubtedly a slap in the face to the ignorant, and it's times like these where I'm unquestionably proud that the citizens of this great nation are defended by a living, breathing Constitution that does not abide by religious doctrine, or skin color, or economic or social value, or the views of a denizen. The Constitution protects each and every one of us, and that is what makes our country great. Equality is the difference between oppression and freedom.
To my gay and lesbian friends, I congratulate and salute you. I hope that more States pick up the reigns of tolerance and social justice and follow suit. One day, hopefully in my lifetime, we'll see a world where true equality prevails, and where the fanatical doctrinaire is cast out by the mainstream to rant alone in some dingy fringe of our society... precisely where they belong.
To the right of this text, I included three pictures which require no caption. I included a caption anyway, of course, for humor's sake, but in perfect seriousness, these images speak louder than words. I want everyone to take a good, hard look at these pictures. This is the visualization of the mindset that we must endure and defeat on the battlefield of social equality. With a few more victories like this one, we can cast these images away as "the old ways." But do keep in mind that while this ruling marks victory in one battle, the war is still a long way from completion. We, the people who believe in true equality, cannot rest until all people are treated equally, regardless of race, or creed, or gender, or sexual orientation, or financial status.
