Don't like sushi? Don't eat it!

As a country whose flag stands as a symbol of freedom and the pursuit of happiness, the United States surely has an incredulous history of flying in the face of the very principles of which it was built.  Ever since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, legislation has been set fourth to uphold the moral and religious beliefs of “group-think” conservatives while infringing on our individual right to seek peace and joy in our lives. Would you believe that just 40 years ago it was illegal for a white male to marry a non-white female in 16 states?  That sounds ludicrous, right?

On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision (Loving v.Virginia) that ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. Did that mean that all those who feared interricial marriage suddenly woke up on June 13th and found themselves married to someone of a different skin tone? No.    

I have never understood why the values of conservative prudes have been allowed to dictate the laws in which we ALL must be governed.  What’s right for you may not be right for me, and vice versa. I don’t have to like what you do.  I don’t even have to like you. But I understand that you have the right to freedom and the pursuit of happiness. As long as your choices don’t infringe upon my rights to seek the same, I don’t need to be involved.  If I don’t like sushi, I’m not going to start a petition to get it banned from the menu of every restaurant in town. I’m just not going to eat it.

What does Loving v. Virginia mean for the LGBT community? Perhaps in 40 years from now we’ll look back and think of how ludicrous it is that in the year 2007 the rights of people in loving, same-sex relationships had been denied.  And for those who are part of the religious reich (oops, I mean right) and fear same-sex marriage – just don’t marry someone of the same sex.