Massachusetts court ruling is a victory for all people

When the Massachusetts State Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry, only the justices were able to remain dispassionate. Commentators frantically sought time on cable news shows to predict the future of marriage. Advocates on either side of the issue sanctified or vilified the Court in press releases. Students undertook heated debates in classes and around dinner tables. The Justices let the majority opinion speak for itself. "The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the Commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry. We conclude that it may not."

The opinion made clear that it would not deal with the religious beliefs and moral convictions that inflame each side. Though valid, the Court declared, they were not relevant to the ultimate constitutional question. In thirty-six pages, the four justices who held together a fragile majority in the case dealt calmly with the arguments presented by the state, ruling that even under the least strict rational basis test, the state had no compelling interest in keeping same-sex couples from marrying. Hours after the decision was handed down, the Governor of Massachusetts vowed to make it irrelevant by passing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

If Americans weren't paying attention to the fight for gay rights before, they will be now. Our culture has become, if not gay friendly, then gay comfortable. We watch "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "Will and Grace" and know classmates or colleagues who have come out of the closet. This tolerance took years to achieve. But now the issue of marriage is forcing the heterosexual majority to do what is most difficult. The issue of marriage is forcing us to accept that the goals — and the rights — of gays and lesbians are no different than our own.

We are a country resistant to change. We are accustomed to children with mothers and fathers and weddings with brides and grooms. But as the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, civil marriage is "an evolving paradigm." Those who argue against same-sex marriage contend that allowing it will degrade the institution and undermine its procreative purpose. But the men and women who filed the suit in Massachusetts are in committed relationships, some for more than thirty years. They are not looking to erode marriage by making it polygamous or philandering. They are looking to embrace the very values of commitment and love that conservatives trumpet. Certainly, no state law exists that says that procreation is a prerequisite of marriage, that sterile heterosexual couples or those who do not wish to have children should be barred from receiving the state's blessing — and its benefits.

Some Americans may believe that a union between two men or two women is immoral. Our nation, with its love of diversity of opinion and freedom of thought, grants them the right to believe whatever they like. But our nation also grants minorities protections from the will of the majority. That fewer than fifty percent of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples is irrelevant. That marriage is a fundamental civil right being denied to a class of citizens because of tradition and fear of what is unknown is unconscionable.

The state of Massachusetts will have to consider whether they want to amend their constitution to exclude homosexuals from the right to marry. The citizens in the middle, the ones who decide public opinion polls and elections, will have to ask themselves whether they are comfortable enshrining the concept of second-class citizenship in a document designed to protect rights. America will be watching, eager for any precedent that will help them to deal with an issue that is uncomfortable, that forces them to reexamine some of the most basic tenets of love and family.

I believe in the American system of government with all my heart. I want to have faith that when it matters most, the people and our representatives will uphold the principles of equal protection and equal rights that make this country great. But I remember with great fear the days when a black man could not marry a white woman, when women were denied the right to vote, when a man could be deemed three-fifths of a person because of his skin color. Our nation, though strong, is not immune to miscarriages of justice. Tuesday brought a victory for justice, and for the many men and women, of all sexual orientations, who have fought for equal rights. If this country is as great as it claims to be, if its people believe as strongly in freedom and equality as they claim to, our victory will not be short lived.

Katherine Reilly is a Wilson School major from Short Hills, N.J.