Love Wins

The day is so surreal in my mind.  It started out as a second attempt in getting to go down and see a few of the sites in the center of Washington DC.  At first, the skies were cloudy and I was tired and I almost didn't go on my adventure.  It meant getting on a metro rail train in spite of my fears of getting lost in a city I had never been in.  But - I went.

I started out at the White House.  I had always seen the images on TV, but it was different getting to see this up close and in person.  I went and walked to various sites including the Lincoln Memorial, the World War Two Memorial and reflecting pool.   I had been monitoring Facebook to see what was going on with the Supreme Court ruling.

All of the sudden, I saw there was a decision and when I looked at the map, I realized I was a little over 2 miles from there.  My feet said, "oh no you don't", but my heart and mind said, I want to go to the Supreme Court building.  I want to be part of history.  So, I made the trek there.

To think, I was only two miles from the Supreme Court at the time this decision came down.  The odds of that blow my mind away.  


As I arrived at the Supreme Court building, I could tell many others were making their way there.  I felt at one with others and like I was part of something much bigger.  I didn't feel out of place.  I didn't feel less then.  I felt celebrated and one and equal to all others in life.

The emotion was joyful and happy and celebratory.  There were cameras everywhere and there were people holding signs and flags and some were just taking it all in.  Law Enforcement was keeping the growing crowd from getting too crazy in the streets.  There was respect everywhere you turned.

Of course, there was some lady grandstanding about her beliefs and warning the country how bad this was.  She was making sure everyone could hear her loud mouth and exclaiming how awful us gays were.  Yes, she has her right to her opinion, but so do I!!!  I was a few feet from her and as she began to shout her rhetoric, I couldn't hep but laugh and snicker at her ignorance.  I could see her eyes connect with mine and I could just feel the anger growing within her eyes towards me.  Obviously the part in the bible about "loving one another" doesn't hold much significance in the minds of people like this lady.  I feel sorry for the poor kid that was having to hold the flag of hatred as this lady spoke.

Moving on, I basked in the glow of what had transpired.  I had tears in my eyes remembering not too many years previously, how "gay" was a very bad word.  It was used by politicians as a punching bag and a scare tactic to get people to vote.  Karl Rove got George W Bush to use it as an election strategy.  I still remember that vividly.  I still remember how horrible I felt when they would strike up  the fear brigades of voters.

You know what - today,  love wins.  It isn't gay marriage or marriage equality.  It is now marriage.  We don't have a patchwork of acceptance and tolerance and intolerance, when it comes to two people who love each other.  We are all one in this country now.  It is a wonderful feeling.  I am emotional about it.  My heart runneth over with joy.

Even though I realize that it is now the law of the land and yes, we will have homophobes out spewing their hateful rhetoric, the Supreme Court saw through the BS and said, no you're not going to continue to discriminate against our fellow brothers and sisters in this country.  If you want to hold your religious beliefs that being gay is wrong, you've got your churches to preach that (with tax free status).  However, just because you believe it, it doesn't mean we all have to see things your way.

Yet, with all the progress we've made, I made this post on Facebook tonight, which I think is worth repeating and I'll end this blog post with it.

I'm very happy there is marriage equality now, but we've still got that pervasive attitude throughout this country that seeing gays hold hands or show the slightest affection to one another can bring about the wrath of others and sometimes serious harm. Too many out there will go to great lengths to harm gay people and I've read far too many stories of this. Yes, there is marriage equality, but we've still got a ways to go for acceptance. it isn't easy sometimes in our society or a job or in other social situations to let people know you're gay. Its getting better - don't let me pooh pooh on the parade today, but just trying to keep things real. We've got to keep pushing forward and onward in the endeavor for all to see gays as human, not as less than. Attitudes and beliefs and opinions don't always change overnight - this is one heck of a start though....  (Don Shetterly, 6/26/15)

Thank you to the White House for this display.  It brings tears to my eyes of joy and hope.

Thank you to the Justices of The Supreme Court for seeing past the political and religious rhetoric.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 6/26/15 by Don Shetterly

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