In Defense of Marriage

Today I am happy that the Supreme Court of the United States took the bold step it did to end the institutional discrimination against some people who love each other by striking down the so called “Defense of Marriage Act”. I am delighted the court also held that the proponents of Proposition 8 here in California do not have standing, thereby paving the way for same sex couples in our state to be married. I look forward to the day when the Supreme Court invalidates all laws prohibiting same sex marriage, as it did in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia, when it invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. To me, both are simply a civil rights issue, regardless of religious and societal opposition to them by some people.

Love is a precious gift. It is the spiritual food that sustains us and binds us, one to another. Because we are truly all connected to each other, we must honor love in all its guises.

If we cannot find it in ourselves to honor other people's love, then we must not... we cannot stand in its way. No one knows the path love will take. Love does not know barriers of time, space, or even consequences. Surely, each of us has buried in our heart a secret love for another person that could not, or must not, find its full expression. We must appeal to that fragile, vulnerable, and sacred place inside to guide us into an understanding of what love requires of us.

We cannot know the path that love must take to fulfill itself. It lies in a realm outside of us, and even of the people caught it in its exquisite grasp. We can only marvel at its many shapes and textures. We must trust in its mysterious wisdom. All of creation invites us to celebrate love in all its forms as the essence of what makes our lives worth living.