Prop 8

I find deep solace in the ruling of U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker.  (A summary of the ruling can be found here.  Thanks, Rob, for the link.)

I feel anguish, and a sense of helplessness, about the fact that this does not mean an end to the divisiveness which has escalated throughout the Prop 8 campaign and aftermath, and which will contine to tear apart families, end friendships, and divide communities.

To those of you who did support Prop 8, this has never been about your marriages.  Regardless of whether Prop 8 stands or falls, you have your marriages and all the rights that protect your marriages.  This has always been about my marriage, and our love and life together.  It has always been about my dignity, and the dignity of my husband and of many thousands of others of your fellow human beings.  It has always been about providing a framework to allow me and my husband and many thousands of others of your fellow citizens to partake in the goods of society on an equal basis with you.

This ruling is important for the same reason as any ruling helping to establish equal protection under the law -- because our constitution and the rule of law are meaningless if the rights of all are not protected, regardless of whether they are a powerful majority or a vulnerable minority.  I hope Mormons who supported Prop 8 will take this moment to seriously ask yourselves, do you really, really want civil rights to be determined by majority votes?  Is this really in the best interests of Mormons?  Is this really in the best interests of any American?

I hope that those of my family and friends and brothers and sisters in Christ who have supported Prop 8 will some day be able to celebrate with me and my husband this affirmation of our humanity.  Until then, while I feel a kind of solace in this ruling, I feel no sense of triumph.