Pride Month 2013 closed with a bang last week, setting the LGBT-rights movement on a new trajectory.
The fall of the Defense of Marriage Act’s Section 3 and California’s ban on same-sex marriage opened a new chapter in the country’s marriage-equality fight. While the Supreme Court rulings did not declare a constitutional right to same-sex marriage or mandate marriage equality in all 50 states, they did pave the way for the largest state in the country to sanction marriage equality — and for the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages. The latter finding has a sea of both practical and symbolic consequences.
Already, binational couples are seeing results, as the end of DOMA’s Section 3 means that Americans are eligible to apply for permanent residency for their same-sex spouses. Couples married and living in states that sanction marriage equality will also soon be able to jointly file taxes and receive Social Security survivor benefits, among the more-than 1,100 other federal marriage rights.
Last week’s rulings were the first time that the Supreme Court weighed in on same-sex marriage. The majority of justices agreed that same-sex married couples deserve federal benefits equal to those afforded to heterosexual married couples, a remarkable turning point for this country. While the president, countless lawmakers and the LGBT and ally community at large have been posturing the same position, to have the top legal minds in the nation concur takes the marriage-equality movement to a new level of validity and respect.
Shortly after the decisions, out Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Sims (D-182nd Dist.) announced that he and Rep. Steve McCarter (D-154th Dist.) would soon introduce a marriage-equality bill in the state House, the first time such legislation has surfaced in that chamber. While the state’s current legislative makeup may not be conducive to full advancement of such legislation, it’s an important first step. The debate about same-sex marriage in the Keystone State needs to be a continuous and serious one to lay the groundwork for marriage equality in Pennsylvania transitioning from a far-away, abstract concept to a reality.
Marriage equality did become a reality this week in Delaware. Delaware state Sen. Karen Petersen and her longtime partner were the first same-sex couple married under the state’s new law Monday, when it went into effect. Similar laws will go into effect Aug. 1 in Rhode Island and Minnesota.
While last week was a momentous one for marriage equality, the work is very far from over. Full federal recognition still eludes same-sex married couples in states without marriage equality, and there’s still a long way to go to bring about state-level marriage equality in 37 states. And in Pennsylvania and more than a dozen other states, we need to prioritize instating a nondiscrimination law inclusive of the LGBT community.
There’s a lot of work to do, but Pride Month 2013 showed how sweet success can be.