The Black AIDS Institute Salutes the U.S. Supreme Court for Affirming the Right to Marriage Equality for Gay and Lesbian People
Today, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 margin on one of the greatest civil rights issues of our time: the right for same sex couples to marry.
With Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority, the Court affirmed that the right to marriage is a fundamental right and that gay and lesbian people cannot be deprived of it.
The Black AIDS Institute salutes the Court for pronouncing that there is one class of citizenship in the United States; that all men and women are created equal, no matter their sexual orientation.
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It is not lost on us that this decision has come down on the same date and at almost this very hour as the funeral of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the slain pastor of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston.
Importantly, while we applaud this decision and look forward to LGBT people regardless of race and ethnicity enjoying the right to form families and marry as they see fit, we cannot forget that while our nation has made breathtaking progress on gay rights over the past decade, 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, America continues to be challenged by the fundamental notion of equality based on race.
