On June 26, the Supreme Court took a massive step forward toward equality, making marriage equality the law of the land.
This ruling goes beyond just recognizing lesbian, gay, bissexual and transgender relationships, making all of the benefits that come with it available to married LGBTQ+ couples, whether it’s visiting your significant other in the hospital or being able to file taxes together.
Though it’s easy to get swept up in the celebration, the issue of marriage equality is still far from resolved for most people, with Obergfell v. Hodges shaping up to be much like Roe v. Wade with it’s continued backlash and debate.
Some believe that the court overstepped its authority, even though the Supreme Court was founded to handle these sorts of disputes.
The Supreme Court does not have the power to enforce its rulings, which Mississippi and Alabama are taking advantage of as they decide to stop issuing marriage licenses altogether.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee invoked Martin Luther King Jr. to call for civil disobedience of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Even though this law would force Republicans to accept marriage equality, many are still committed to creating a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, or insisting that this should have been decided on a state level.
Those who insist that the courts are not the right way of achieving marriage equality are usually saying it as thinly veiled disregard for LGBTQ+ rights and as an acknowledgement that they thought marriage equality would likely not be passed nationwide for quite some time.
I hoped that if the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality, we could go on to talk about other LGBTQ+ issues, but because there isn’t widespread agreement on whether the ruling itself is legitimate, who knows how long it will take to discuss other forms of discrimination that LGBTQ+ people often face.
While this ruling should be celebrated, it’s not the end of the need to fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Many laws that were created to combat discrimination do not protect sexual orientation or gender identity, such as the Fair Housing Act, making it possible to evict someone for being LGBTQ+.
Marriage equality may be the law of the land, but antidiscrimination laws are not, allowing people to be fired or evicted for getting married.
Transgender people are still not officially allowed to serve in the military.
LGBTQ+ teens are still getting kicked out of their parents’ houses to live on the streets.
Transgender people still face more violence than other groups. Celebrate this win, but recognize that there is still more work to be done.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science sophomore. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 6/29/15]
