Unequal rights for a model citizen

By Ellen Taylor

This is my profile:

Age: 56

Birthplace: Atlanta

Citizenship: United States

Marital status: Married, two children, one stepchild

Education: College, graduate school

Occupation: Professor, 17 years at Georgia State

Own/rent: Homeowner

Religion: Christian, 25 years at current church

Hobbies: Classical music, books, golf, bridge, travel

To my eyes, this outline appears to be the description of a solid, stable citizen. I pay my taxes, I vote, I help my kids with their homework, I donate to my church, I mow my grass, I work hard at my job.

However, the laws of my state and nation deny me and my family many of the rights and benefits enjoyed by my friends, neighbors and colleagues. Last week, after reading that the voters in Maine overturned a legislative act permitting same-sex marriage, I am particularly down about this.

Although I know that life is not fair, and that bad things happen to good people, it has been deeply inculcated in me to believe that the United States of America is a place where our basic governing philosophy is that everyone should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and to contribute to our society.

Our understanding of equal opportunity has grown, as we slowly came to understand as a nation that discrimination on the basis of race or gender or religion or national origin was wrong, and was harmful to all of us, not just those who were the objects of the discrimination. Through both court decisions and legislation, we have moved toward a more inclusive vision of a nation in which all people can hope and expect to be treated equally under the law.

At the same time the law has changed, there has been no change in the principle that matters of conscience and religious belief are not subject to legislation. As Americans, we understand from our cradles that no one has the right to tell us what to believe, and that we have the right to speak our minds or act on our beliefs, as long as we do not impinge on others’ rights.

Given these two principles, that all of us should have equal rights under the law, and that all of us should be free to believe what we choose, I am puzzled and saddened by the continuing and repeated refusal of citizens and courts to provide gay couples and families the same civil rights enjoyed by straight couples and families.

My wife and I could not plan our wedding locally, where our friends and family could attend easily; instead, we had to marry in Canada, where only a few friends and relatives could be with us. Although our marriage is a completely legal marriage in Canada, my state and country will not recognize it.

As a result, some benefits of marriage are completely unavailable to us, while others require expensive and time-consuming contracts and directives to get us to the same place that our straight friends arrive automatically when they marry.

We are forced to take extra measures to safeguard our children in the event something happens to one of us. We are burdened with worries that we will be denied access to our spouse’s hospital room or will not be permitted to speak for one another in emergencies. These closed doors make it more difficult not only for us, but also for our children.

Removing the legal barriers to full participation in American society for families headed by same-sex couples does not require anyone to change their beliefs about the religious significance of marriage, any more than the Supreme Court case striking down laws against interracial marriage required people to change their beliefs about that issue.

But as a nation, we have a commitment to provide equal rights and opportunities under the law. As long as marriage is a civil status that has legal consequences for its members, it should not be denied to any of us based on our gender.

Ellen Taylor is a law professor at Georgia State University.