An Outpouring of Support

For those who are somehow unaware, oral arguments took place today in the Supreme Court regarding California’s infamous Proposition 8, a voter initiative which denied same-sex couples the right to marry under the law (the law was passed in 2008). In honour of this, a campaign was begun to bring awareness and spread support for the freedom to marry. This campaign included wearing red or changing Facebook icons to red to symbolize love.

I did not expect to see much of an effect from this campaign except from the usual sources such as friends I have who are gay, organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, and so on. However, I saw a much larger outpouring of support for equality than I expected, including some unexpected sources. There were personal sources like former school and university mates, family members, friends and acquaintances, several of my fraternity brothers, and co-workers. There was also support from some more far reaching sources such as YouTube sensations like Philip DeFranco, bands like Carbon Leaf (one of my favourites), various political groups (not including the ones are that are LGBT-specific). Brendon Ayenbadejo of the National Football League was speaking at a rally in front of the United States Supreme Court building. Even Ben & Jerry’s ice cream voiced their support.

This is also coming on the heels of several United States senators (Warner of Virginia, Tester of Montana, Begich of Alaska, and McCaskill of Missouri) affirming their support for marriage equality in the span of about three days. While I have been cognizant of the ever-spreading support for equality, I am truly and happily astonished at the flood of support over the past several days for which I am truly thankful (as I am sure the rest of the LGBT community is as well). So much progress has been made recently and it is so important that we as a nation keep moving forward in our quest to being a more perfect union with liberty and justice FOR ALL!!!