Boies and Olson: Marriage Equality Isn't Just About Rights. It's About Dignity.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/06/17/marriage_equality_isn_t_just_about_rights_it_s_also_about_dignity.html
Marriage Equality Isn't Just About Rights. It's About Dignity.
By David Boies and Theodore B. Olson
June 17 2014

(excerpt)
We represent the plaintiffs in one such case, Bostic v. Rainey, which challenges Virginia’s stringent ban on same-sex marriage. Relying on the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the equal dignity of gay men and lesbians in Lawrence and Windsor, and the powerful evidence of the manifold harms caused by marriage bans developed in our 12-day trial in the Perry case, courts have uniformly ruled in favor of marriage equality. While many of those rulings are on hold pending appeal, as things stand today, more than 137 million people—43 percent of the country’s population— live in a jurisdiction that embraces marriage equality.

When Richard Loving was asked by his lawyer what message he wanted to convey to the Supreme Court hearing his case, he responded, “Tell the Court I love my wife, and it’s just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”* In that response, he conveyed that he and his wife were just like any other couple who loved each other and wanted only what other couples took for granted. He thus challenged his home state to explain why he and his wife could be prosecuted for a felony if they moved to Virginia. Virginia had no acceptable answer.

In the struggle for marriage equality, it has been the increasing recognition that gay men and lesbians are, except for their sexual orientation, no different from anyone else that has convinced so many Americans to reverse their opposition. Older straight men and women are increasingly coming to understand (as most young people do already) that gay men and lesbians are our friends, neighbors, teachers, and colleagues; that they procreate and raise children; that they have the same hopes and dreams for their families; that they suffer the same disappointment and grief when those hopes cannot be fulfilled. It then becomes impossible to explain why gay men and lesbians should not be permitted to marry. As in Loving v. Virginia, the opponents of marriage equality cannot explain why all the social and economic benefits that flow from being married should be denied to these people who are no different from straight Americans...

...These cases, and the accompanying shift in public attitudes, could not have been possible without the strength and quiet inspiration of hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian citizens living openly in America today—providing daily examples in their communities that the families they formed are every bit as deserving of dignity and respect as other families. There are many Mildred and Richard Lovings.