This is a moment in history where yet another state has stood its ground opposing the Moral Right, and stating that ALL Americans are covered under the Constitution and have the right for the pursuit of happiness.

In my past arguments for gay marriage I have sited the Love vs. Virginia  case, it involved a white man, Robert Loving marring an African American woman, Mildred. In Virginia and several other states it was found illegal for interracial marriages. The Supreme Court ruled in 1965, “Marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival…. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State”

In 2007 when Mildred Loving was asked how she felt that her and Roberts case was being used as an argument for Gay marriage she responded, “Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.  I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

In the August 4, 2010 federal district court decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, which overturned California’s Proposition 8, Judge Vaughn Walker cited Loving v. Virginia when justifying his conclusion that “the right to marry protects an individual’s choice of marital partner regardless of gender”.

I bring you my friends this information solely for the purpose that when we stand before a ruling authority to sanction a marriage of love between two people, that we hold honor for those who have suffered the fight to make it so.  We should not only give thanks to those who have pioneered in the states of  Vermont, California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and  Iowa, but those who fought the many battles to ensure that we as Americans are not requesting special rights, but are only fighting for our rights that were given on that fateful day when the Constitution was signed.

I am a Lesbian, I am a fighter, I will marry, and look upon the children to come and say, don’t ever crawl into a corner and chew on the bone that maybe thrown at you to keep you quiet but scream for any injustice that may impinge upon your rights as an American, as a product of this civilization.