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?

Thoughts On The "Red Facebook Explosion"

An interesting phenomenon happened on Facebook recently that thoroughly caught my attention. Anyone who logged on to the social networking outlook on Tuesday, March 26th and Wednesday, March 27th would have seen it. Thousands of profile pictures changed to this red and pink equals sign, painting everyone’s Newsfeeds in a sea of red.

The image being used was a modification of the logo for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC is an advocacy group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender individuals), typically a yellow equals sign with a navy background. This trend was inspired because on March 26th and 27th the U.S. Supreme Court heard cases regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8—the California ban on same-gender marriage—and DOMA—officially “Defense of Marriage Act,” which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-gender marriages as marriage, thereby prohibiting the federal government from granting them the 1,100 or so federal benefits for married couples regardless of which state they live in.

Now, I am well privy to the type of groundswell movements that often take place on social networks. Granted, most of the time it goes something like this: my Facebook Newsfeed is suddenly swarmed with “GO BIG RED!!” statuses, and I instantly know the Nebraska Cornhuskers are playing. But this was much bigger than that, because EVERYONE—coast to coast—would have seen it.

The Olympic Spirit

I do not think it is a big surprise to anyone who knows me that I am a sports fan (particularly when it comes to the sport of soccer…or as I like to call it: football). So naturally when international competitions come around every other year, invariably my eyes are always glued to whichever screen I can get them gazing upon; and this year’s Summer Olympics in London, England was no exception.

Of course there are specific events that I prefer over others, but our television was primary tuned in regardless over the last two weeks. And I would never want to miss one of my favorite spectacles of the Olympic Games: the Closing Ceremony.

Manifesto to Love

Society favors the few: the ones who fit into ALL the right categories. Only they have it easy; only they are special.