What The Recent Supreme Court Decisions Mean For Me?

In case you were hiding under a rock in Siberia, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on two cases regarding same-gender marriage today.

The highest Court in the nation declared:

• Article III of the Defense of Marriage Act—a statute passed by Congress in 1996 that, specifically for federal benefit purposes, defined marriage as between one man and one woman—is unconstitutional.

• The private sponsors defending California’s Proposition 8—a 2008 ballot initiative that banned the state from issuing marriage licenses to same-gender couples—did not have legal grounds to represent the state as private parties appealing the state’s position; thereby returning the case to its Ninth District Court of Appeal’s decision as Proposition 8 being unconstitutional.

So what does all of this mean for me? Strictly speaking, I am currently neither in a same-gender marriage nor am I a legal resident of the state of California. So how exactly do I have any stake in either of these rulings?

Robbie Rogers: A History in the Making

Robbie Rogers is a former midfielder for the Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer and Leeds United in England. He represented the United States at the U18 and U20 levels, and made several appearances for the United States Men’s National Team in World Cup qualifying, CONCACAF Gold Cups, and in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He recently signed a 4-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Why is this significant? Because in his personal blog this past February, at the age of 25, Rogers publicly came out as a gay man and said he was retiring from professional soccer.

This story is not a new one—obviously American journalists have been covering Roger’s story since…well…February. And at the time, like many other Americans engrossed in soccer culture, I was greatly disappointed that he was calling it quits. He may not be the best American soccer player ever to play the beautiful game professionally, but all of us agreed that at his age with the level of talent he did have for him to retire because he was gay was simply a crime to international football.