Fears aside, my heart is beaming with joy! This is a huge victory for myself and personal rights but it is also a huge victory for my friends, peers, colleagues, family members, and all of the country. Whether you benefit directly from this ruling or not, it is my belief that this country benefits as a whole. Two hours into this ruling and my Facebook wall is drenched in updates celebrating. My straight friends and family are celebrating as equally as my gay and lesbian friends. I read one post that announced that after 15 years of being together, my friend and her partner are engaged! So many others that I know that have put in the hard time and effort that marriage requires, are now rejoicing in having their marriage certificates from other states be recognized in their state! We are not just celebrating a right! We are celebrating LOVE! Love in it's purest form. It comes with dedication, hard work, perseverance, and a deep LOVE.
Today I celebrate the institution of marriage! I celebrate the fact that no longer will my friends and I be treated as second class citizens! No longer will I have to worry about the day that I am married and can't share health benefits with my beloved or worry about retirement, lawful protection of my rights as a mother of my future children, or be concerned that my beloved or I could be hospitalized and not be able to see each other or make pivotal decisions in our care! No longer will I have to plan a trip to go marry my beloved in another state and return to ours where we are not recognized! No longer will I have to fear discrimination with work place rights! No longer will I have to be pained at the thought of my children growing up with their mothers not legally being recognized! NO LONGER WILL I BE FORCED TO BE IN PART BUT RATHER EXIST WHOLE.
Today I celebrate the victory that I believe GOD has placed before us. As a future Pastor, it is my desire to see the church function as Christ desires. It is my hope to foster an environment where people can come to exist, grow, and evolve in an authentic relationship with Christ. Though we have separation between Church and State, the two consistently intersect in our country. No longer will the church be able to keep a comfortable quiet in this conversation. No longer will people be able to ignore the inclusion of the GLBT community. This is God's charge to God's people! How do we love the way that you love, God?! This will without a doubt call the church community out of its comfort zone with this conversation and force people to really reflect on this question. This will not be an overnight fix but it is a conversation starter; and that is the best thing; to begin talking about it.
This is an extremely pivotal time in our country. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the racially motivated atrocity in Charleston, South Carolina, our country is being ushered into a time where we are really having to look at what EQUALITY and JUSTICE mean. This is a huge step for human rights. May we become a country of compassion that upholds love, respect, hard work, determination, commitment, and human dignity higher than anything else. And in this, I believe we will, whether intentional or unintentional, exemplify characteristics of God and be well pleasing to our Creator.
Today, no longer will we be as divided and no longer will hate triumph over love. Dylann Roof shot 9 people in a church in attempts at starting a race war. Instead, what he started was an extreme awareness of the misguidance that our country can still breed and bring blacks and whites together to console each other, to live together, to journey together, and to praise God together. The state of Indiana tried to take a stand against gay rights. What they in turn did was highlight and ignite a country against that discrimination. Today, our country chose basic human rights instead of fear and wrongful judgement. Today, our country chose you and our country chose me. I celebrate with my brothers and sisters of every kind of background today as this is not just a victory for the GLBT community, but for us all. The institution can only be strengthen by this movement. Thanks be to God for the direction we are heading. I can't wait to be a part of the conversation!
