The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of marriage equality on Friday. Same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. A popular response has been #LoveWins. It absolutely does. It’s a beautiful time to be alive and I am beyond thrilled that this has finally happened.
Along with love, some other things won, too.
- Logic and reason won.
- Science and medicine won. After all, the research has shown that being gay or bisexual isn’t a mental illness and isn’t harmful. It also shows that “conversion” doesn’t work.
- Secularism and religious freedom won. Not everyone belongs to a religion that is homophobic. Many of us don’t belong to a religion at all. If you do, you’re still allowed to keep your beliefs. You don’t have to get married to someone of the same sex. But you don’t get to take away the rights of others.
- Fairness won. As Ricky Gervais tweeted, “Same sex marriage isn’t gay privilege, it’s equal rights. Privilege would be something like gay people not paying taxes. Like churches don’t”.
- Benefits won. Marriage in the US isn’t just tied to symbolism and ceremonies. There are also numerous privileges married couples have, such as health insurance benefits and tax breaks. There’s also the ability to sponsor a nonresident fiance or spouse for permanent residency. “There are 1,138 benefits, rights and protections provided on the basis of marital status in Federal law,” according to the Human Rights Campaign.
- Empathy won. You don’t have to be gay or bisexual to believe in marriage equality. You just have to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
- The wedding industry won. There will be more wedding ceremonies. Cha-ching.
- Location options won. There are spouses who have wanted to move to other states but have hesitated because the marriage that was recognized in their current state wouldn’t be recognized in the other state. This is no longer an issue. There are couples who were unable to relocate to a state where same sex marriage was legal or did not desire to, for various reasons. They can get married without sacrificing the location that otherwise suited them best.
The majority of US liberals support marriage equality. This also agrees with libertarian philosophy, even though many libertarians do not believe the government should be involved in marriage in the first place. And fellow Skeptic Ink writer Ed Clint believes this is a win for conservatives, too.
With so many wins, it’s only things like bigotry, intolerance, hatred, dogma, prejudice, and homophobia that lost. #LoveWins
