I was sitting in the waiting room of Quest Diagnostics this morning, readying myself for some routine blood tests. I logged onto Facebook on my iPhone and posted that I was “triply anxious,” awaiting news from the Supreme Court on marriage equality and awaiting personal news that has life-changing possibilities. No sooner did I update my Facebook status then I saw the news breaking all over Facebook: the Supreme Court had ruled DOMA (the so-called Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional. Right there in the waiting room, tears streamed down my face as I read the reactions of friends:
“DOMA IS DEAD!” announced Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Garden State Equality.
“Unconstitutional, baby. What we've been frickin' saying all along,” said my dear friend Alexandre while his husband Sean shared, “I am crying tears of joy right now! For the first time in my life I feel like a true citizen of this country!”
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“DOMA found unconstitutional!!!!!!!!!!!!” screamed the group One Million Moms for Love.
One of my creative writing professors remarked, “Hooray for Justices Ginsburg, Kagan, Sotomayor, Kennedy, Breyer! The true Moral Majority!”
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“What's the emoticon for sitting in a parking lot in Hyannis reading scotusblog live and crying with joy? Anyone?” asked our friend Sian, a business owner in Provincetown where Eric and I got married back in 2009.
It was about a half hour later, as I sat in my car in the parking lot of the Wegmans in Cherry Hill, when word broke that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down California’s Proposition 8 case, clearing the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. Once again, my tears flowed and voices were raised over Facebook:
My friend Jim posted a meme of Interwebs celebrity Sweet Brown reading, “Prop 8 and DOMA? Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
My colleague Amy posted, “So happy for so many...particularly the folks I am lucky enough to call friends. Love wins.”
Miss Richfield 1981, who hails from Richfield, Minnesota, where butter is a spice and gravy is a beverage, summed it up in one word, "Horray!!"
Over two hours later, my tears continue to flow as I see the elation of so many people, both homosexual and heterosexual, being shared across social media. Today was a monumental day in the lives of so many people who have had to face inequality merely because of their sexuality. I applaud you all, especially those bold enough to stand up and demand an end to injustice. Make no mistake about it: You are and will always be our heroes.
