The Weekly Round-Up: Love Wins

Welcome to another week of The Weekly Round-Up where we share posts from other bloggers that we love.  Let's focus on community, and this week extra so, as I share posts regarding the SCOTUS ruling on equal marriage.

"The Supreme Court’s decision isn’t simply about wedding bells, it is about worth. Without the right to choose to marry, one is excluded from the full range of human experience. Today, my family along with many others are finally granted the same rights they should have had all along as human beings; the choice to walk down the aisle and meet their soulmate at the end."

♥ I loved this post that Shane from Sea Salt Secrets wrote called It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  She makes some very poignant points about the reason this is good, and why it's been a long time coming.

"This week, I pray that we choose to love others, a lot more than we ever have before. I pray that we continue to love each other, despite any differences. I pray that we quiet our mouths, and that instead, we wash more feet."

♥ Most of you know that I'm not religious, and I'm certainly not Christian in my beliefs-I've grown up in a state ruled by religion and seen the ugly side of it more times than I can count.  However, every once in a while, I'm reminded that there are people out there that really do fit what they say Christ taught, and then they speak out with love.  Emily from Ember Grey is definitely one of those people, and this week, in the wake of so much celebration but equal amounts of hatred and negativity, she reminds us to love one another.  Way to shine Emily!

"The thing is, though, that being angry at the decision for all people in the US to be able to marry means that you hold the belief that all people should not be treated equally. It’s that simple. You can say that it makes you uncomfortable, that you don’t know how to explain it to your children, or that your religion doesn’t “allow” it, but at the end of the day if you don’t support marriage equality you don’t support human equality."

♥ I loved this brutally honest post by Mary (a.k.a. Uncustomary) over at Uncustomary Art reminding us that just because someone doesn't want to be your friend, doesn't mean they hate you.  She makes some great points not only on what the post is regarding, as you don't have to hate someone to just not want to be friends with them, but it also made great points on marriage equality-and more importantly-human equality.

"I think we can all agree that last week was PRETTY COOL for America. SCOTUS not only upheld Obamacare; they also prohibited all 50 states from denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Although there’s still much to do in the fight for equality (ie trans* workers’ rights,access to health care for undocumented immigrants, ending homelessness in LGBT youth,equal pay for all genders, taking down that horribly racist flag, and more…), Friday’s landmark decision deserves celebration. And what a better time to celebrate than the week of July 4?!"

♥ Corinne from The Feminist Feline shared this hilarious list of her Top 10 #LoveWins Memes, and it had me laughing a whole lot.  I especially loved the "Bye, Felicia" in biblical speak-SO great! haha

What are your favorite posts this week?

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#LoveWins And We Make History

A week ago today I was sitting at work, it was about 7:30AM and my phone went off. Loudly. It shocked me, because typically my phone is on silent and also, why the hell was anyone texting me at 7:30 in the morning?  That's early!

Well it wasn't a text.  It was this small, but important, notification from KSL:

I couldn't believe it.  I mean we'd been waiting on an answer from SCOTUS for months, and nearly holding our breath the past few days as they just kept saying "any day now..." But here it was, a little notification telling me what I expected and hoped for.  No more bans on gay marriage.  Marriage equality in all 50 states.

What did I do first?  Share to Facebook.  Second?  I texted Josh in Canada, and Shawn who is on vacation in Palm Springs.  Neither had heard the good news yet, and both were ecstatic about it.

It was amazing.  Sitting there all I could think about was that love did win, and how it was such a fantastic day to be alive while history was being made.  I thought about all of the women who fought for the right to vote and how they must have felt when the ruling was passed down, and how everyone who fought for race equality must have felt the day that decision was passed down... They must have felt like this.  They must have felt this surge in their chest.  They must have felt, for at least that day, proud to be an American.  As someone who's not terribly patriotic (I am grateful for everything I've been given and I support our troops-don't get me wrong), I sat there in complete awe and wonder, as I was immensely proud to be an American.  We may take a little longer than other countries trying to get these things fixed, but eventually we do, thank goodness.

No, this wont fix all of the problems, but it's sure a damn good start.  We still have so far to go.  There's still way too much hatred, bigotry, and persecution.  There are still so many states where you can be fired or evicted simply for being gay.  We still need so many non-discrimination laws put into place.  We still to deal with bullying, hate crimes, inequality of pay between the sexes, immigration, health care, war, etc.  There will still be bigots, homophobes, and racists out there.  But for today?  Today we can be happy that this one thing came to fruition so well.  That it was such a beautiful day in history.

One day, I'll tell future generations where I was on that historical day when we finally stood up against this small piece of bigotry.  That feels amazing.

Where were you when you heard the news?

Also, if you're anti marriage equality or you have something nasty to say, please just move along.

I don't want to get into any kind of debate or argument here, I simply want to celebrate loving one another.

A Very Happy Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!  I have so much to be incredibly happy about today/this week/this year.  There is just so much joy around here!  First of all, I'm happy that I get to be alive for amazing historical events.  When I was passed a link to the local newspaper's website Friday afternoon saying that Federal Judge Shelby struck down Utah's Amendment 3 as unconstitutional-I thought it was a joke.  I mean I knew that marriage equality is a giant rolling ball that cannot be stopped at this point, we had 17 states who'd passed it already-but I never in a million years expected Utah to be number 18.  We're a red state.  We're controlled by a heavily right-wing religious (with a religion that actively spends millions of dollars trying to prevent "gay marriage") group of people.  I expected Utah to be one of the last few.

But the reports kept pouring in.  It was real.  It was happening.  Just a few hours after the judgement was passed Utah had it's first same-sex marriage on the books.  Hundreds more followed excitedly! It was all anyone could talk about and I sent links to nearly everyone I could think of-this was momentous.  This was history in the making.  

As Sunday evening rolled around and the Governor and his cronies actively begged for a stay while they prepared their appeal.  Couples camped out overnight in front of the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office hoping to get their licenses early before the process could be halted.  At 6AM on Monday morning my very dear friend (and work-husband) Shawn texted me to alert me that he was in line with his partner Justin.  They were couple 152 in line and everyone was nervous they wouldn't make it in before court began at 9AM and the judge could rule whether or not "gay marriage" would be stayed in Utah.  Judge Shelby stood by his first decision and denied the stay.  Marriage continued, and Shawn and Justin were legally wed right here in our home state.  Something I didn't think we'd see for many many years.  My heart was so full.

Last night we all went down to the rally/Celebration for Marriage Equality in Utah to celebrate.  The crowd was large and gathered at the courthouse to celebrate.  There was singing, there was cake, there were speeches, and a live marriage performed right there on the steps in front of us all.  The energy was amazing.  For the first real time I was proud to be a Utahn with people I love so close around me.

When the celebration ended, we weren't ready to stop-so we met up with Callie (Callie, a good friend of ours that works for the city, actually married Shawn and Justin earlier that day!) and Brigg and walked down to the pub for drinks.  We drank beers and shots with the happy couple, and several other happy couples in the bar.

Suddenly the music changed and all of the sudden the entire bar jumped out of their seats to sing along with "We're going to the Chapel and we're gonna get married..." and there was dancing, and celebration, and so much joy.  The energy and the love in that room was so intense I almost started crying right there! 

As we left the bar we were all a little tipsy and highly elated.  The day was monumental, not only in our lives, but in the course of history-and we were all awed that we were able to be alive to see it-and be surprised by it.  My heart is so full for all of the wonderful couples who were able to legally marry the loves of their lives over the last few days.  It makes me happier than I can possibly express.

Linking up with:

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