Later this month, the Supreme Court is to hand down a ruling on expanding the freedom to marry nationwide. On April 28, the court heard oral arguments in Obergefell v. Holden, a case with over 30 plaintiffs. They’re asking the court to validate the love and commitment shared by their families.
Thirty-seven states and Washington, D.C., have proved their commitment to their people, ruling that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples and their families not only exist, but matter. The Supreme Court ruling in late June could grant the freedom to marry to all people in all 50 states and territories of the U.S.
As a person who identifies as LGBT, this decision is important not only for me but my loved ones, too. My partner and I are planning our wedding and life together. We call Georgia “home.” We were born and raised in Albany. Most of our fondest memories of childhood and family are in Georgia.
I am a licensed attorney and practiced law in Atlanta, , working in boutique employment and bankruptcy firms and with political leaders shaping the laws in the state. Our community ties are throughout Georgia. As an attorney and consultant, I have traveled back and forth between this state and the Carolinas to handle cases, work on campaigns and tend to family matters.
We are now living and working in North Carolina, despite our ties to and love of Georgia. We share a home and the responsibility of raising our little one. We have family dinner nightly. We support and care for each other. We pray together. We are committed to our life together.
In North Carolina, we have the right to marry and have our life together recognized under the law; our family is legally protected. We’d like to share our special moment with our family in Georgia. However, this state does not recognize same-sex marriage. So, making a permanent life in our home state is unlikely.
God forbid if anything happens to one of us during our travel back home and I am not recognized as her spouse or vice versa. Under Georgia’s current laws, I’m not guaranteed the right to be by her side or to make health care or life decisions that affect our family. If we cross state lines, we no longer exist under the law as a loving, committed family.
Together, we are making life choices, including finalizing our permanent residence based on the life we have together and our future plans. We always talk about our love of Georgia and how great it would be to be home again and build our life surrounded by our family and friends. In the current status quo, this state does not provide us the protections, freedoms and rights other families have under the law.
This is what my best friends face on a daily basis. They were married in Spokane, Wash., about a 41-hour drive from their home in Atlanta. After their vows of commitment and love were shared in front of friends and family, they traveled through 10 states — Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia — flipping the marriage switch on and then off again in the five states that did not recognize their marriage as legal, only to arrive home in Atlanta, where they were viewed just as they were before their marriage vows — legal strangers.
In the Carolinas, we celebrate our freedom to marry and be recognized under the law, but that celebration is short-lived when we cross state lines. We live our lives in uncertainty as to whether we exist, count or matter under the law. Well, we do. All families deserve equal protection under the law.
This ruling is crucial to same-sex couples and their families because theirs are no different from other loving and committed families. We are hard-working Americans, sharing our love and commitment, building a loving home, raising children, only wanting what every other loving couple has the right to — a legally recognized marriage. We shouldn’t have to spend the rest of their lives in a constant uncertainty with an on-and-off again marriage status, proving that our love, commitment and families are real and should be counted.
It is my hope that the Supreme Court does not keep loving families waiting in the balance and extends the fundamental right to marry to all people.
Hope L. Jackson is an Atlanta attorney and political consultant, specializing in contract law and campaign management.
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