The World According to Sally: Take Me to Court

You would think that by 2014 gay marriage wouldn’t be an issue, but apparently it is. Leading opponents of the same-sex marriage movement have been stirring up arguments recently after the Supreme Court’s action on Oct. 7. to permit same-sex marriage in five more states. After this decision, the total number of states with legalized same-sex marriage is brought up to 25. Opponents assure the media that the battle against legalization is far from over. Opponents of legalization continue to push appeals of recent court decisions on the issue in the hopes of a Supreme Court hearing.

Map shows progression of same-sex marriage in the US (from freedomtomarry.org)

The National Marriage Organization recently stated that they believe there is a good chance the Supreme Court will “rule in favor of the people’s right to define marriage as it has always been defined.” Well, if they really want marriage to be defined as it always has, then goodbye to gender equality.

Women would go back to working full-time in the home, raising the kids and never even giving thought to an education. Men would yet again be looked upon as the head of the home, in charge of all economic care of the family. Oh, and did I mention the fact that a husband would also be legally allowed to rape his wife if we went back to the “traditional” rules of marriage? So long gender equality, hello “marriage as it has always been defined.”

We as a species constantly change the “norm” due to the necessity for the continuous evolution of majority opinion. People change their minds; it’s normal. Sticking to this tradition of constantly allowing definitions of the ‘norm’ to be changed, our current society is overdue for the next step into the future. Our next step into equality.

SME is one of the few schools in the state that offers support for the legalization of same-sex marriage. Groups such as the GSA offer weekly Monday meetings for students, both gay and straight, in order to bring light to issues such as same-sex marriage facing our generation today.

Same-sex marriage is not a debate that will quietly go away. Opposition to marriage reform may prolong the process of legalization of marriage equality, but it will not change the fact that same-sex marriage is an inevitability.

This being said, I understand that change is a scary topic and some may still not be comfortable with the idea, but the time for reform is now. With the growing number of same-sex parents, what kind of message will the government be sending the kids of these families if our very own representatives say two people of the same gender can’t be together? If our country truly hopes to proclaim that equality is one of our ‘democratic values’, we may as well guarantee it to our own citizens.