Our View: Rejoicing in a greater sense of liberty

Those who were there say it was “at least” a million people crowding along the parade route Sunday for the 45th San Francisco Gay Pride Parade – the biggest, boldest and oldest of all Gay Pride events.

And most, if not all, were in a celebratory mood. The parade, with its 25,000 marchers, was a rolling festival and dance party bundled into one. There were floats, bands, singers and costumed marchers (and some sans costumes) heading from the staging area outside the Ferry Building down Market Street to City Hall. There were even corporate representatives – Wells Fargo, Chase Bank, Walmart and many others – handing out rainbow wrist bands and beads.

They had a reason to celebrate. Just two days prior, in a bow to both tradition and symbolism, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, saying no state could prohibit same-sex partners from marrying anywhere in our great nation. Friday was the closest the court could get to June 28 – which has special significance in the gay community.

In 1969, a group of defiant homosexuals refused to be bullied or beaten into submission by officers raiding a gay bar in Greenwich Village, N.Y. Supportive neighbors gathered on the street, and when police tried to force several transvestites (it was illegal for men to dress as women) into a police van, those neighbors started pelting the van with rocks and bottles. It became known as the Stonewall Riot, named for the bar where it began – the Stonewall Inn. Now, gay pride events are timed to coincide with the date each year.

Think about that. Forty-six years ago, New York politicians felt that having gay bars was bad for their city’s image. So New York City police were told to target the bars; to close them down.

Now, in 2015, not only is it legal to dress any way you want, and love anyone you want, a million people – joined by corporate sponsors from beer companies to banks – gathered to celebrate everyone’s right to marry.

Not all of those drawn to San Francisco on Sunday are gay. And that’s important, too. For the millennial generation (ages 18 to 35), the right to marry has become more than just a gay issue – it is an issue of human rights.

That five members of the court agreed is recognition that the “arc of the moral universe,” as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, does bend toward justice.

Some might think it bends too slowly. But in terms of cultural change, this was nothing short of warp-speed upheaval.

In 2012, Barack Obama said his thoughts on same-sex marriage were “evolving.” Not until his gaffe-prone vice president said he had “no problem” with gays marrying did the president come out on the side of same-sex marriage.

Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the liberal wing of the court and wrote the opinion, declaring we are governed under a “living Constitution.” Many say his opinion is a landmark for cases concerning individual rights.

Not everyone agreed, not even everyone on the Court. The four strongly worded dissents are testament to the issue’s divisive nature. And there are things that must yet be addressed – discrimination in jobs, housing and legal proceedings. But Friday’s decision granted rights to a segment of our population that had not previously enjoyed them. That decision, perhaps, made people everywhere feel a bit freer, more empowered. It made them feel like having a party.

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Our View: Rejoicing in a greater sense of liberty."