The Supreme Court Has spoken, What Now?

By Jarrod Scarbrough

Like many of my friends, I have spent many a morning this month glued to live blogs announcing the Supreme Court opinions on Prop 8 and DOMA .  I have literally been on the edge of my seat each morning as I wait to see if the future of my family will be decided!  I have tried to remain optimistic about the outcome: the dreamer in me has held hope for the best possible outcome, while the activist in me has remained pessimistic and looking at ways to organize around all possible outcomes.

This morning, as I sat watching, and read the words “DOMA has been struck down”,  I cried tears of joy.  The Supreme Court of the United States had just affirmed my existence as a human being worthy of equal treatment, to a degree.  What a huge victory, and more than I really allowed myself to hope for!  And then to see that Californians have now won back the right to marry, well, of course, more tears flowed!

As the day has gone on, we have been slowly getting more information from legal experts about just what all of this can mean.  We know that couples who are legally married in the state they live in will have the full gamut of benefits, rights, and responsibilities afforded to heterosexual couples by the federal government!  We also know that many of those things, like the right to sponsor a spouse for immigration, will also be available to couples who married in an equality state but live in a state with a ban.  At this point, we are watching the Obama Administration to see how quickly language is changed in various departments that will allow those living outside of equality states to have benefits.  So today, many will celebrate this victory.

For many of us, this is a bittersweet victory.  We feel happiness for the victory, happiness for the couples around the country who will now be recognized by the federal government.   On the other hand, we realize that among those LGBT people who live in states with bans, many who would love to be married simply cannot afford to travel to another state to do this, nor should anybody have to.  Not every LGBT person is in a relationship, and not every couple wants to get married.  For these people, issues like employment discrimination, teen homelessness, and bullying may be more important than marriage.  It is important to recognize that each of us has a unique voice in the movement, and all views should be encompassed, no one issue should be held at a higher level than another.

Personally, I will celebrate tonight.  I will celebrate for dear friends who will now be able to apply for green cards, for families I know who will receive tax breaks, for countless other stories we have heard and hoped would have happy endings.  I will celebrate for my friends in California who can now marry without traveling out of state.  I will celebrate for same-sex military families who will finally start to be treated like families.  I will also talk to people about what kind of next steps we can envision in my own state of Florida.  I will gather names and contact information so that tomorrow we can start to mobilize and do the hard work that needs to be done in order to secure equality.  I am confident that one day soon we will see full equality for us all, but I also caution that it will take a lot of work and a lot of people doing the work.  I look forward to working alongside those people as we fight for justice!