DOMA is dead! Prop 8 defeated! Your thoughts?

WOOHOOOOOO! It’s great!

I’m glad to hear it, of course, but I do hope that the Congress will get its act together – soon – to pass legislation to the same effect. That is, to recognize true equality.

I absolutely abhor that so much law seems to be made by courts these days, just because politicians won’t manage (notice that I didn’t say “can’t manage”) to put aside enough difference to make responsible compromise.

[fake mod says] This is our question of the day, simply because it’s so exciting!

I am tickled pink!

This is great!
Trying to resist the urge to ask why it was a 5–4 ruling, rather than 9–0. Debbie Tom Downer strikes again.

I never got why there was so much trouble over this. I could never understand it and thought it was freaky. Here everybody can be married or defacto and the government doesn’t care so why would they care about it there.. never got it.. glad its being fixed!

SCOTUS has made some God-awful decisions lately (Citizens United?!?, Voting Rights Act ?!?), so I was worried. My reaction is “Hallelujah”.

Shaking a bit, happy tears and speechless.

Happy dance. Today we are all gay. :-)

^^ Yes! Time for a gay party! Rainbow pancakes for everyone!

Will you all marry me?

My partner just sent a text. “Let’s go to New York and get married!”

Does this actually defeat prop 8?

And yes, fantastic news considering the VRA thing earlier.

See, ladies and gents… This is why your vote counts. The President places supreme court nominees. Not liking Kerry got us Roberts you assholes.

Rainbow pancakes!

@augustlan I’d marry you in a heartbeat. :-)

<smooches>

@johnpowell Please, don’t spoil the fun by calling people assholes. Today is a great day. These rulings are important. Striking down the VRA is reprehensible, I agree, but give us a break.

Happy, happy , happy! I am sorry about the Voting Rights Act though.

Search “marriage equality” on google :)

Woot! YAY! Great news, as soon as CA starts issuing marriage licenses I’ll have lots of weddings to go to!

Ecstatic, but also a little disappointed. I was hoping, very dearly, that the judges would use Prop 8 to determine that states do not have the right to ban same sex marriage at the state-level. Alas, that is a battle for another day.

I was so thoroughly disgusted with my state when Prop 8 passed. So much has changed, socially and politically, in five years.

I suppose I will probably cry later. I can feel it welling in me, but it hasn’t happened yet.

That’s wonderful. I imagine Putin having a fit. The gay people in Russia need our support. Progress is unstoppable.

Nice to see the government doing something right for a change.

Good news, and a surprise from this Supreme Court. But I guess supporting the individual right to marriage for larger swathes of the population is a conservative stance if you get right down to it.

Fingers crossed for an inclusive ENDA, which apparently has a majority of support in the Senate now, and which arguably would affect more people’s lives (and livelihoods) than the defeat of DOMA.

Hope we don’t see a backlash with a magnitude like the one in France.

SCOTUS 1, INEQUALITY 0

Good riddance. The law was so clearly unconstitutional. And besides, I love the aroma of meatheads frying.

It’s about time. To not be able to get married based on sexuality was/is ridiculous! It never made sense to me.

What ever.

I’m very happy, but it made me think about the fact that we’ve still got a long way to go. There are plenty of States that still don’t allow same sex marriage. I’m concerned about the children of legally married same sex couples that move to (or even pass through) those other states. Will those states recognize that those kids have legal parents (with all of the custody rights and other stuff that goes along with being a real parent)?

We still have a long way to go with people in this country who are still disgusted with the idea of gay people at all. Like with racism, the bigotry towards gay folks is still around, and will probably be around for a long time, even if the bigotry goes underground, like it has with racism.

So yes, I’m happy, but still very concerned.

Yay!!!!!

Slow. Much too slow, but finally! I couldn’t be more pleased. (unless it had happened sooner.)

* Y * A * Y *

Woohoo, and belated props to the people of MD for voting for marriage equality!

I’m so happy and relieved.
No matter what your political leanings, I have a hard time understanding how people can feel so right when they are preaching bigotry and intolerance instead of love.

I guess that means in 5 to 10 years there will be brothers and sister wedding and one wife and many husbands and many husbands with many wives. Lets see how Social Security handles that one…....

CA Sec. of State has given CA 25 days to fall in line.

I’m so happy and surprised. The wife and I are already making plans.

I have a question. If a person undergoes a sex change operation, can that person marry someone who has the same chromosomal sex as their original sex in states that do not allow same sex marriage?

For example if a female (at birth and by chromosomes) gets a sex change operation to become a male (chromosomes stay the same) can that person marry someone of the same sex that they were originally in states that do not allow same sex marriage? If the answer is yes, to what degree of sex change is necessary? Do they only have to have their breasts altered? Would they have to have their genitals altered too? What if they are just living as the opposite sex, but have had no operations, but they are taking hormones? What if they are living as the opposite sex, but are not taking hormones? Do they have to have their birth certificate altered?

The other example would be if a female (at birth and by chromosomes) gets a sex change operation to become a male (chromosomes stay the same), would that male now be unable to marry another male?

In both cases, the person’s chromosomes remain un-altered, but their sexual orientation may have changed, and their gender may have changed. Does it depend upon what their birth certificate says? Can a birth certificate be changed after a person gets a sex change operation? Does it depend upon what their current drivers license says? It seems like it would be fairly simple to take out a drivers license under a different sex even if the person had not undergone a sex change operation. Under what legal circumstances can a person have their drivers license changed from F to M? How much proof is necessary?

All of these issues remind me that the whole notion of not allowing people of the same sex to marry is so ludicrous, because I’m assuming that if one changes certain aspects of their original sex, they may indeed be able to marry someone of the “same sex” but to what degree do they have to alter themselves?

Is it all about paperwork? Is it only about physical appearance? Does a person have to go under the knife?

And once again, even if you are religious and think that same sex marriage is a sin, how is it any of your business to suggest that people who don’t share your religious beliefs, should follow your beliefs? Our laws (some of which are still stupid, considering that same sex marriage is still not allowed in most states) are designed to be equal for everyone, even if they think certain things are icky. I think eggplant is icky, but it doesn’t mean that there should be a law against growing it or eating it, because it has no effect on me.

I was sick and tired of people having control over my life.

@tinyfaery, can I come to the wedding? (Shamelessly putting you on the spot. )

That’s a way off. We’ll see.

@Kardamom, I know it’s a widespread idea, but there’s no such thing as a universally recognized “sex change operation.” Not all trans people, going in any direction or anywhere on the ‘spectrum,’ want all of the surgeries that non-trans people often have in mind. The idea of “the operation” is a red herring and does not allow for the complexity of trans experience. Some people don’t need surgeries, feel the current options are not worth the money/health risk/potential loss of sensation, or simply could never afford surgeries that they do want. I am not just speaking for myself but for many other trans people I know.

And because of the system of federalism in the U.S., what degree of proof of “sex change” (hormones, various surgeries, real life test, doctor’s letter, therapist’s letter) is needed for different documentation (birth certificate change, drivers license, state ID, name change) varies wildly between different states. In some states, these document changes are not possible at all, which poses an every day threat to the trans people living there, seeking employment and jobs. Hence why I said a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act might affect more people’s lives and livelihoods than the ability for people in some states to now get married.

It’s nuts that a group of people who know nothing about this stuff get to arbitrarily write the laws, and you’re right that the existence of trans people renders the prohibition of “same sex marriage” even more absurd. Fun example! Right now, the way it stands in my state, I could theoretically get married to a male-assigned-at-birth man, even though “same sex marriage” was outlawed by constitutional amendment, and even though 98% of the people I encounter everyday perceive me as a man, too. This is because my state may never recognize me as “male,” because of the requirements it has set. And for this reason, I could not marry a female-assigned-at-birth woman, as that would be perceived as “same sex” marriage in this state.

This is part of why the division of power between the federal and the state level frustrates me. It would make life so much simpler and safer for trans people if state-level document changes had the sole requirement of the federal government for changing your legal sex on your passport: a letter from a doctor stating that you have completed your “gender transition.”

@bookish1 Yes, this whole situation is really is so far from ideal., although today it got an eensy bit better. Maybe the ruling against DOMA today will open up the can of worms or the Pandora’s box so that all of these questions can be considered and answered so that all people will have equal rights and equal protection under the law.

Anyone up for a round of We shall over come?

I’m happy that the right to pursue your happiness is still alive in America. I think Jesus is smiling personally.

I’m surprised but really happy.

Perhaps some of us whose spirits are lifted by these rulings will find some humor in 5 of the Craziest Reactions to Today’s Marriage Equality Decisions.

I’m off to buy a dress to wear for @Mama_Cakes wedding! That’s how happy I am! YAY! Our old/new PM came out in support of same-sex marriage recently – hoping for change here too.

Great, great news.

Can we Fluther-Cast @Mama_Cakes and @tinyfaery‘s respective weddings here in the lagoon??

@Hypocrisy_Central By what contorted logic do you arrive at the conclusion that because we complied with the actual wording of the 14th Amendment, we are suddenly going to draft new legislation that has NOTHING to do with the 14th Amendment? You must have tied yourself in a true Alito Pretzel to come up with that “logic”.

This is a good one.