The second of my three key arguments for marriage equality is that it is a simple matter of equal rights. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are fundamental cornerstones of our democracy. All Americans should have the liberty to enter into a mutually agreed-upon marriage with whomever they choose, and to pursue marital happiness regardless of the other person’s gender.
Liberty, of course, doesn’t give us the freedom to do harm to others. I have yet to see a persuasive argument, however, that explains exactly how my marriage damages those of opposite-sex couples. (The only thing I can imagine is that same-sex marriage blows away gender roles and this makes some people feel highly insecure.)
Coretta Scott King, civil-rights champion, once quoted her husband Martin Luther King, Jr. as saying, “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny… an inescapable network of mutuality… I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.” By restricting the freedom of one group of citizens, we tarnish the claim of all of us to live in a free society.