Second wedding anniversary

June 19th is our 2nd anniversary of our Jewish wedding ceremony. (Bravo to Reform Judaism which has recognized same sex unions as holy and valid for years!) We were married on Father’s Day, 2005.

I believe that marriage equality is enviable. The cherished American belief that “all men are created equal” is an ideal that is still held sacred. It just takes time to become a reality. Originally it meant only white, free, male landowners were entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But over the last 200 years the concept has been expanded to include most minorities and women. One day soon gay men and women will have the same rights as heterosexuals.

In 1948 for example, California was the first state to effectively repeal the anti-miscegenation statutes. A poll taken at the time showed that less then 5% of the public were in favor of the decision. Nineteen years later, 1967, the “activist judges” of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously the state laws prohibiting interethnic marriage were unconstitutional. It took until year 2000 for the last state, Alabama, to change its constitution. Even then 40% of the voters were against it. It has always been challenged that racial intermarriage would be a threat to the holy and scared institution of marriage. A judge in 1965 said "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

June 12, 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia which struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states. Learn more information at Freedom to Marry website.