They’re doing in Nepal what they cannot do in Nebraska. In four months, the people of Nepal will recognize the equal marriage rights of heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.
In Everest, North Dakota, they won’t let couples get married if they’re not heterosexual. On Mount Everest this May, however, the Nepalese will begin a new era of marriage equality for same-sex couples with special wedding ceremonies on the slopes. It’s a fitting location, for the highest place on the surface of the Earth to provide recognition that marriage is a state of being that transcends the mere ability to breed.
How many more nations will need to legalize same-sex marriage before we here in the United States realize that families made by two men or two women are not less worthy of respect than families formed through heterosexual union? Same-sex marriage is increasingly commonplace, and yet the USA continues to preach that it isn’t real.
In doing so, we aren’t just denying the reality of stable, healthy same-sex couples. We’re also denying what was once one of our nation’s core values: Equality under the law. Our Constitution demands equality under the law for all people. It doesn’t allow a loophole for discrimination against homosexual Americans.
When we deny marriage equality for same-sex couples, we deny the right of all Americans to live in a nation of equals. We allow the United States to degrade from its former position as a leader in freedom to the shameful position of a straggler.
