THE BIG ONE

I couldn't sleep the last couple of days. Part of that was Neil not being here, but mostly it was just a knot in my stomach about the coming Supreme Court ruling. I tend to take these things to heart and this was , like our title says : THE BIG ONE.

We have known for months that the ruling would be handed down this week, but everyone , all the folks in the know, were saying that it would be on Monday, because the courts always save the " big one " for last. All the lgbt / progressive chatters were on this night and day. " No, it will be on Friday  - and we will win - because the Supremes want to kick of the best day PRIDE weekend ever in NY and SF ( and other places ) . Or, Yes, it will be on Monday because the court is going to go against us and they don't want riots in these big cities with 10's of thousands lgbt people and their allies gathered for a festival and parade .

So Koda and I were up early yesterday, logged into SCOTUSBLOG - and boom, The President and the country win on health care - and score! the progressives win a battle over fair housing BOTH shocks from the Roberts court and very much reasons to celebrate - no ruling on marriage equality today. There are five cases yet to rule on - everyone saying Monday is the day.

A Good Morning for a Little Marriage Equality

Never the less we were up early, at least today I took Koda out before hunkering down to watch this clicking blog . I'm there at 8:30 knowing that there would not be any announcement until after 10. Click click click, the great bloggers there answering questions on the cases coming up, etc. Friends chatting on Facebook, Neil calling from Salt Lake City - the time really flew by. By 9:45, I was really unable to put two sentences together to talk to Neil , so I just told him I would call him after the cases were released. Scoutsblog makes this click click click with each additional post. I was not watching tv. They did not focus enough on the Court yesterday.

10:00 - and the blog is still. 10:03 , one word : MARRIAGE - decision by Justice Kennedy. We had won - WE HAD WON.

And won it all , this was not some watered down " half assed " some states can some can't this was coast to coast, one law. This was gay and lesbian Americans are full fledged citizens. It was not real for a long few minutes. Very hard to explain. Neil called - and I had yet to turn on the television. just watching the blog - then Facebook started just scrolling on its own with rainbow after rainbow after rainbow.... It was over, we had won.

So much has been said of the speed that this took place , but compared to what. Stonewall was 46 years ago. The Mattachine Society formed in 1950 , people have been working and fighting and some dying for this cause for a long long time. And yes, it was not always marriage, that seemed to far fetched for the early leaders, but that notion has been kicking about since the early 80's.

Andrew Sullivan , who first wrote about same sex marriage in 1989, broke his self exile in Ptown to post on his old blog and to call A. Cooper on CNN - and they played an old Crossfire from 1993. A babyfaced Andrew facing Gary Baur - who simply laughed Sullivan off at the mere mention of marriage, it was laughable then, but that was twenty two years ago - not exactly an over night victory.

And now it was over - we had won. Hard to really wrap my mind around , I was never some great gay activist, but always read a lot. A ruling either way would not have affected our marriage, NY state is safe, but I was still overcome with just a great since of relief and joy. Almost like when we first got married , you don't think it is going to make that big of a difference, but it does, and a big one. So yes, being equal in the eyes of my government is a huge deal . One of the most amazing days of my life.

Im beat - it has been a long day of just pure joy. Ill come back to this tomorrow.