Plessy v. Ferguson and Gay Marriage

The landmark ruling of the Supreme Court in Brown v. the Board of Education in 1954 overturned segregation and finally conceded in the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren, “ that the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

A recent and stunning announcement in San Diego serves to underscore the same sentiment in the case of gay (in)equality. Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders recently signed a City Council resolution that urges the California Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage after recognizing the impact it would have on his daughter, a lesbian.  "Two years ago, I believed that civil unions were a fair alternative," Sanders said. "Those beliefs, in my case, have changed. The concept of a 'separate but equal' institution is not something I can support….In the end, I couldn't look any of them [my family and friends] in the face and tell them that their relationships—their very lives—were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife Rana."

What the mayor tapped into here, along with the keenly felt American sense of fairness, is a biblical reality that goes largely unnoticed.   After the first creation story of Genesis 1, God looked over all of creation and pronounced it “very good.”   This followed six days of creation, each pronounced, in turn, “good.”   Then, in Genesis 2, the first “not good” is proclaimed.  God discovered loneliness in the human heart, and that “it is not good for the human to be alone.”  Immediately God goes to work to end human loneliness and establishes forever that every human has the right to live in a loneliness-relieved relationship.

Ultimately, the refusal of marriage to same-sex couples is a denial of their humanity.  When the church denies marriage to gay couples it is saying that you are not worthy of having your loneliness relieved in the only way it is possible.  In other words, you are not worthy of being a human being.  Imagine the anguish of a straight person not being able to marry, ever, unless he or she married someone of the same sex.  This is the direct connection that Mayor Sanders made as he compared the life he lives with his wife against withholding the same benefit to those such as his daughter.  He could not refuse what God has ordained.  God created us all in the image of God.  Who are we to prohibit that which God has deemed necessary?