California same-sex couples to start marrying today

The question of whether marriage for same-sex couples is an issue on which the broader movement for lesbian and gay (and transgender) rights should focus a significant amount of time, energy and especially money is one with several answers. There is an arguable groundswell of people within it who contend this issue is the most important civil rights concern of their generation. There are others who contend marriage is nothing more than a narrow sighted attempt to assimilate into heterosexual society. And there are those who maintain the push for marriage for gay and lesbian couples comes at the expense of anti-LGBT hate crime legislation, socio-economic and racial justice for LGBT people of color and other arguably more important issues.

This debate will certainly continue, but those couples in California who plan to pronounce their commitment to each other before their friends, families and communities starting today will almost certainly celebrate the date for what it is--a groundbreaking milestone towards equality and justice for all. Not everyone in LGBT America will get married. And there are certainly those who may deliberately shun this societal institution, but the choice as to whether one should get married should not lay with the government. Love is love. Commitment is commitment. And the couples who will begin to walk down the aisle today in the Golden State are certainly ready to legally express that reality.

Congratulations!