Progress in America: #LoveWins!

I always thought America was going to be one of the first countries to get on board with the idea of same-sex marriage. What with America being the land of the free and the home of the brave. I know it’s not perfect, no country is. But America has always been the country everyone secretly dreams of. It’s the promised land. A place where anything is possible. When you say “only in America” you’re always referring to something unbelievable and awesome.  However, the States took their time. Same-sex marriage in America started with just 1 state – Massachusetts, then more states joined in, and finally, on the 26th of June 2015 the glorious day of victory came. June 26 is a great day for America. It’s the day, on which same-sex marriage has been legalized across the whole country. From now on, it’s not just a privilege of heterosexual couples, it’s a constitutional right for all.

 

 

America might not be the first country to do this, in fact it’s the 21st, but it’s the biggest country so far. So what took it so long? America is one of the most populous countries in the world, it’s also a country that believes in democracy, which means the people of the country get a say in what’s happening and can vote for the laws they want. Does this mean that the whole of America believes in same-sex marriage now? Probably not. But the majority of the country does. What happened on the 26th of June was a U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. Which everyone has to agree with, no matter if they want to or not. It’s a great decision, by the way, I applaud it. But 36 out of 50 states recognized same-sex marriage as legal before the 26th of June. That’s a lot of states and a lot of people that came to the conclusion that everyone should have a right to marry the person they love on their own. That’s impressive. That means that people’s attitudes and view on society are changing.

 

 

In the 60’s and 70’s it was unthinkable that same-sex marriage could be legal. There were laws in place that actually banned same-sex marriage in certain states. A mere 50 years later, we now live in a world where same-sex marriage is publicly discussed everywhere and countries one by one start to change their legislation and finally accept same-sex marriage as legal. 50 years might sound like a long time, especially for those who’ve been fighting for it this whole time. It takes time and generations of people. Old habits are hard to break. But 50 years in history is a very short time. And there’s been a lot of progress in this time period. People’s views and perspectives are changing, people are becoming more accepting of the LGBTQ community and therefore more accepting of same-sex marriage.

 

 

I, personally, don’t quite understand the opposing point of view. I don’t understand why would you ban people from getting married. Why did it take so long for people to understand that there’s nothing wrong with same-sex marriage and why were so many people angry about it? Why would anyone care if someone else wanted to marry someone of the same sex? What’s that big deal? Do these people feel threatened? And if so, by what? Same-sex marriage doesn’t change anything for heterosexual couples and families. It literally doesn’t influence them in any way. So why would you be against it? Also, if you, as a heterosexual couple, have the right to marry, why wouldn’t a same-sex couple have the same right? We’re all people and we should all be equal in our rights. It’s a very simple idea but a lot of people struggle with it for some reason.

 

 

I know that there’s a lot of people who think the same way. I know that there’s generations of kids who will grow up believing in equality. Thanks to this U.S. Supreme Court ruling, there will be generations of people in America who will have no qualms about same-sex marriage, they’ll just see it as a normal thing, because it’s the law now. We’re heading for a better, more accepting future and I can’t wait to see it happen!