Yesterday the Supreme Court heard the marriage equality cases from the 6th circuit, which will determine whether or not marriage is legalized across the country, by what means, and potentially whether LGBT people qualify for heightened scrutiny and greater protection from discrimination.
Most people think we will get some form of marriage equality, but it may be found on narrow grounds. We are hoping for 5-4, but it might be 6-3. There is no way that we can get Alito, Thomas, or Scalia, all conservative Catholics.
If the court found against equality, there would be chaos as bans were re-instated, and potentially, marriages annulled.
We went through that worry as we waited, after the passage of Prop8, as the first court case played out in California and the pro-H8 side argued that the 18,000 marriages that occured in that brief window should be annulled. It was a like a kick in the stomach.
Even though our marriage is safe now, it is still a degrading feeling to be talked about and argued about. We are people, with a real life and a real marriage, not a theoretical construct. And as the opponents of equality lose, they become more shrill and hate-filled against LGBT people.
And in this time of hope, we are still afraid.
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