Supreme surprise

Victory!  In two landmark rulings issued on the same day by the United States Supreme Court, gay marriage suddenly became a reality for many.  Even for those that had already proposed on one or both knees, said the cheesy vows and gotten a piece of paper from the state where they lived in, these rulings gave that ceremony the import and recognition it had previously lacked.

Dignity, was how the US Supreme Court characterized it.  The Defense of Marriage Act, which had forbidden the federal government from recognizing that a marriage between two gay people was valid, even if a state had already said it was legal in its territory, failed to bestow dignity on gay couples, dignity they deserved as citizens of the United States.

The DOMA law had been passed by the ill-meaning Senators precisely to target gay couples who were planning to waltz off from their red-neck abodes to other states where gay marriage was legal.  Justice Kennedy, the man who willingly stuck his neck out as target practice for homophobes and bravely signed on as ponente for the ruling, opined that as a measure that targeted a specific group or class of people, DOMA was nothing else but a law that had no other purpose but to discriminate.

Why was it passed?  So as to impact on gay couples.  All it said, at its core, was that two gay people, if they marry, will not be given federal benefits.  This law therefore created two classes of married couples, one with full federal benefits, and the other, where all those federal benefits were denied.  So obviously, one class was discriminated against.

With the wonderful Supreme surprise, all those federal benefits are now available to gay couple including, as it was quickly pointed out, immigration.  So non-Americans married to US citizens can finally get a green card.  And it was only a couple of days before the news came out that an alien, who had beaten the system by staying inside American shores for decades on different student visas, had by virtue of his gay marriage (and maybe his wonderful connections at Immigration) been issued a green card.  As for the rest of the gamut of federal benefits, President Obama has promised implementation will come out as soon as possible.

Even Bill Clinton, who had signed DOMA into law, issued a statement rejoicing in the decisions. Significant other Hillary likewise joined him in congratulating the LGBT groups.  As observed in other commentaries, it's no longer the kiss of death for politicians to be seen endorsing the gay agenda.  (Notice how Vice President Binay's bailiwick of Makati City has been sponsoring gay pride events.)

So we now have a huge sea change happening in America, where does that leave us?  Very quickly after this ruling, cause-oriented group EnGendeRights came out with its statement pushing for gay marriage.  The group has said: “Same-sex couples... are denied the right to marry and divorce and other rights such as the right to adopt children, own conjugal properties, intestate succession, immigration, avail of tax exemption, and avail of benefits related to insurance, social security, medical, hospitalization, next-of-kin, burial, among others.... Until Philippine law recognizes the right to equality in marriage and divorce of LGBTs, there will always be discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  People will always find an excuse to discriminate against LGBTs.  Enacting a law that provides equality in marriage and divorce is one step towards ending discrimination and hate crimes against LGBTs.  It is an important step towards a humane and just society where people respect the rights of others.”

So there's still an uphill fight to convince the rest of this nation that marriage as an institution should be extended towards other citizens.  And for naysayers who say that gay marriage sullies the institution or damages it or profanes it (I forget the rest of the silly arguments), I present as Exhibit A, a survey that concludes that because gay people want it so much, marriage suddenly became cool. (Too lazy to remember the name of the survey, look it up on the web).

The gist of that study is, for decades, less people have been marrying.  Moving in together and living in, yes, but actually marrying and running the risk of the mess that comes with splitting, no.   More people have been divorcing.  Or marrying multiple times, with divorce so easily available to them.  Marriage was on a downhill slope, not trendy at all.  The gays have changed all that.  The solemnity and respect with which gay people have approached marriage have, according to the survey, made straight people look at it in a different light.

So in fact, gay people have made more straight people want to marry.  And if you see all those videos available on the web of gay marriage proposals, gay wedding ceremonies, gay declarations of love, all those do tempt one into marrying, even just a tiny bit.  (Just stay away from gay porn.)