June 26, 2013

June 26, 2013 is recorded in the U.S. history forever, as the day that an individual named Edie Windsor won a case against the United States in the Supreme Court because she believed her constitutional rights were violated.  Her action and victory does not only affect the many gay or lesbian partners or their children, but sends a strong message to generations to come: when you believe you have a case, you have a case.  Go get your right, and know that the foundations of a healthy democracy and justice system is all you need.  If you are lucky enough to have such structures in place in your society, you better honor such a system by using it for the purposes it was designed for to its fullest extent and capability. If you do not have such a system in place, you need to help build one!

It has not been even a week since the Supreme Court has passed this ruling, five days and three working days to be exact.   Today, my colleagues and I received an email from our Human Resources office indicating those who are in same-sex marriages, can now add their spouses and children to their health insurance policy, that they can benefit from other benefits for child care, retirement, etc just as any other spouse or child of a family would.  I was proud of seeing the power of law and democracy in action and how quickly a new law gets implemented.  For me, seeing that email was historic for the reasons I mentioned and more; among them for the respect the people have for the law.  I am sure there are many religious people not happy with this ruling.  But once the case has gone through all the steps of a justice system, once the game is over, they accept the verdict.  If they do not, they revisit the case in the court of law not in streets with destructions, bullets, and chaos.  Today, I was proud of America and Americans.