The nation’s capital is the sixth area in the country to legalize same-sex weddings — after New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut — and couples were free to officially marry as of today, Tuesday March 9. The Human Rights Campaign office in Washington, D.C. was witness to the district’s first ever such marriage, between Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend, who were first in line to receive a marriage license when they became available. The courthouse’s official marriage booklet has been amended to read “legally married” in place of the previous “husband and wife”.
That this has taken place in D.C. must surely signal a significant change in the nation’s politics regarding the human rights of homosexual citizens across the country. Though die-hard traditionalists will likely continue to bear animosity in their hearts, this is how true change occurs: slowly, but surely. The more states that transition from the past to the future, the more obvious it will become that there was never any danger or threat posed by the union of two people who share the same gender.
What this means for our children is one more barrier of acceptance removed, and one less need for an awkward attempt to explain an illogical inequity. If a child loves her mommies or daddies, she shouldn’t have to ask why they can’t be happy like other couples are. The answer to that has only ever come down to “They just can’t,” and that is no answer to tell a curious child. Let there always be reasons for our children to accept, and they will grow up knowing that there is an order to society, an order that they can understand and grow within. These children will grow wise, free from prejudice and judgment, and help shape a world that will benefit us all.
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