Well. Well! And things are astoundingly well, too, now that the United States Supreme Court struck down — no, let me rephrase that — the Supreme Court exploded the last barrier to equality for gay people.
June 26, 2013, is a day as significant as the passing of the Civil Rights Act, which was enacted July 2, 1964. Isn’t it interesting, perhaps beyond coincidental that laws supporting equality share close dates — as if somehow, the forces of human rights for all has a life of its own that all the prejudice in the world cannot deny.
In 1964, when then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, just days before our Fourth of July celebration that year, Johnson was ensuring and enshrining the Founding Fathers’ dictum that all are created equal. The Civil Rights law, which still stands today on our law books, no matter what you think or how much you hate it, this permanent and eternal law of the United States outlaws major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national origin and religious minorities and women.
The Civil Rights law ended unequal application of voter rights (read this very carefully) – this week the Supreme Court struck down one section of the voting rights act, Section 4, but Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act remains intact, which states in plain language, there will be no racial discrimination in terms of voting rights — period.
The Civil Rights law ended racial segregation in schools (read this carefully, too) – this past week the Supreme Court sent the Affirmative Action lawsuit back to the lower court, meaning for now, until other lawsuits come forth, Affirmative Action stays.
The Civil Rights law ended segregation not only at educational institutions but in the workplace and by facilities used by members of the public. (Read this carefully as well because) you cannot, by law, deny someone into your establishment, be that restaurant, business, and you cannot discriminate in terms of renting or buying and selling of houses because of race, national origin, religious minority, ethnicity or because you are a woman.
That was true after July 2, 1964, and still holds today. The law is the law of our land, no matter what you wish otherwise.
And that brings us to June 26, 2013, when the Supreme Court, in a tight, contentious 5-4 vote, declared the Sept. 21, 1996 law that recognized marriage is only between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.
That cannot be said loudly enough. UNCONSTITUTIONAL! In other words, from now on same-sex couples are accepted as equal in the eyes of the law.
Back on June 28, 1969, faced with blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians, a series of violent demonstrations erupted at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City after a police raid. During the 1950s and ‘60s, there were few establishments that accepted gay people, so police raids were routine. In fact, attitudes 50 and 60 years ago were dead set against gay people to such an extent that even the FBI, ruled by homophobe J. Edgar Hoover at the time, hunted down anyone who was regarded as gay, whether you actually were or not.
Right after World War II the common feeling was to resist the force of change that the war had wrought. As historian Barry Adam said, many Americans were fanatic in their desire to “restore the pre-war social order and hold off the forces of change.”
So if you were gay, the FBI and even your local police department had lists of people who were homosexual, the United States Post Office kept track of addresses of people who were gay and turned that information over to your local law enforcement. Bars were shut down if they allowed gay people and even if you were not gay but visited a gay establishment, you would be arrested and exposed in the newspapers of the day.
This hate against gay people consistently worked itself into rooting out homosexuality wherever and whenever it was suspected. Sweeps were conducted of neighborhood parks and on beaches. If you dressed a particular way, you were declared gay. Professors at universities were fired on suspicion of being gay. The bottom line was that thousands upon thousands of gay men and women were publicly harassed, fired, jailed or put into mental hospitals.
In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association, in its own narrow-mindedness, declared homosexuality was a mental illness. Then again, the culture of America in the ‘50s and even into the ‘60s was nearly completely structured on discrimination, prejudice, bigotry and hate. America had grown inward, angry, arrogant and paranoid. While that may have been an understandable reaction to a world upended by World War II, it is clearly not reason to hate your fellow human being.
Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, became a symbol and the genesis of the gay movement so that by 1970, gay pride marches across New York City came into being, gay activist organizations formed, three New York City newspapers were established to support and promote rights for gays and lesbians. On June 28 that same year gay pride marches were held in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
From there, gay pride events are today held all over the world.
So as you can see, the history of gay rights in America has been a very long slog. And much has been accomplished for gay people since then, including the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law during President Barack Obama’s time in office that had been instituted into the armed forces earlier during President Bill Clinton’s term more than 20 years ago.
Yet June 26’s ruling isn’t just about gay and lesbian rights, it’s so much bigger. It’s that no one in good conscience can be against another simply because they are different from you. It reminds us we are all humans and gender is not so clearly as circumscribed as we want to believe.
And too, belief itself comes up for serious questioning. How can belief stand in the face of fact? Today, the very same American Psychiatric Association that claimed homosexuality is a mental illness now supports the fact, the truth that one is born homosexual. It is not a lifestyle, it is not a disease, and just as one is born with a particular shade of skin, there is simply no room, no excuse for maintaining prejudice any longer against homosexuality.
So what you believe, and no matter how offended you are by the Supreme Court’s striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, or the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and no matter how disappointed or angry you may feel, it really is high time to drop what you fully know is your prejudice.
It is now the law of the land. From this day forward, in the United States, (read this as we are all included, not just a chosen few) – couples can become united in marriage, if they wish.
Our Founding Fathers would be proud: “All (people) are created equal.”
Jodeane Albright is an award-winning blogger/columnist and the community editor at the Idaho State Journal.
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