“It is so ordered.”
Thus concluded Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s majority opinion on last Friday’s 5-4 decision to make same-sex marriage a Constitutional right.
The ruling was made in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, as well as three related cases, with Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonio Sotomayor and Elena Kagan ruling favorably.
In his majority opinion, Kennedy wrote, “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family… it would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage.”
Thirteen states’ citizens gained the right to marry, Michigan being one of them. Prior to the decision, the state of Michigan defined marriage as “inherently a unique relationship between a man and a woman.”
Saginaw County started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as early as Monday, June 29.
Many SVSU students and faculty members were affected by the decision, including public administration junior and Living Proud president Brandon Errer.
Living Proud, as defined by the organization’s Facebook description, is “a group on SVSU’s campus dedicated to creating a safe place for LGBTQIA+ students.”
Errer spoke highly of the Supreme Court’s decision to make same-sex marriage legal.
“When I was younger, I always wanted a big wedding with all the bells and whistles, he said. “As I grew up, I felt as if that dream was fading. After the Supreme Court decision, I feel as if no one can take that dream away from me. It feels amazing.”
Despite this, Errer feels the LGBT community still has many roads to pave before feeling truly equal in the eyes of the law.
“This is more of a stepping stone for us because we still have a lot of work left to be done,” he said. “Some of the simplest next steps that the LGBT community is going to be working for are ending employment discrimination, guaranteeing public accommodation for transgender people and repealing bills that could be used to discriminate again LGBT and other communities.”
Following same-sex marriage ruling, LGBT organization says there is still work to be done
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