Supreme Court Ruling

Although you have probably read about it elsewhere, today the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on cases regarding Proposition 8 in California and the Defense of Marriage Act. They found that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, which means that the federal rights of marriage (filing taxes together, immigration issues, etc) will be extended to same sex couples who are legally married in their state. In the Proposition 8 case they found that those appealing the suit to the supreme court did not have standing, which means that there will be no change to marriage laws in any states except California, and in California marriage equality is returned but it may be a bit messy in the courts for a bit from what I understand.

I have mixed feelings about marriage equality myself. I am getting married this fall, but neither my fiance nor I are very fond of the way marriage works in our society. We find the economic and social constraints of marriage outdated and the privileging of married life over unmarried relationships and single people problematic. Nonetheless, marriage is a structure important to many in our society. Opening marriage and it’s associated rights and responsibilities up to more people is essential even though I see it as a first step in reform, not an end in itself. We still have a long way to go to attain marriage equality across the United States and around the world, but even then I do not see it as a final step. It is really only the next step.