by Howard J. Ross, Founder & Chief Learning Officer, Cook Ross Inc.
Yesterday, Sunday, July 24, 2011, gay and lesbian couples all over the state of New York were allowed to legally marry for the first time. Thousands of people were granted the same legal and civil rights as those of us who are straight. Straight people have historically never, even for a moment, had to consider if their marriage would be recognized as legal and valid. New York is now the 7th state in the nation, in addition to the District of Columbia, that has recognized the right to marriage equality. (http://www.marriageequality.org/current-status)
I was deeply moved as I watched the news reports of people getting married who have been devoted and faithful partners, in some cases for dozens of years. Now they are finally getting assurance that they will be legally guaranteed the right to sit in the hospital with their beloveds as they passed their last breath. Now they can fully share in creating their financial futures. Now they can legally share the lives that they have in actuality been sharing for years.
As I sat there watching I couldn’t help but ask myself, “How can this possibly be a threat to my own straight marriage?”
I am convinced that some day we will look back at this time like we now look back at the early days of the civil rights movement, when people were fighting for the right to be treated as full citizens of our country and others were fighting to deny those rights, and say “what were we thinking?”
As the news stories and photographs came out yesterday I was completing a training I had been leading all week in Ottawa, Canada. The Canadians I was with had, almost universally, just one thing to say: “What took you so long?”
Many strategists are predicting that Maryland is the next big state where marriage equality will become a legal reality. Please support organizations like Equality Maryland, HRC, PFLAG, and any other organization advocating for marriage equality. We all need to work together to get this done!
Support equal rights for all citizens NOW so that one day we can look at this moment in time and say “that was when we came to our senses.”
