At first blush, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn California’s Defense of Marriage Act, might not seem to have a large impact on Verona. We do not have the large gay and lesbian community of Montclair or Maplewood. Same-sex marriage is not legal in New Jersey.
And yet, two Verona bloggers devoted their writing this past week to the lessons of the historic decision by the U.S. high court. In a post entitled “Social Conventions and Love“, Laura Berman Fortgang, an executive coach and interfaith minister, notes that “During the course of my adult life, there have been many conventions broken: interfaith marriages, and interracial marriages among them.” She acknowledges that these changes have caused discomfort for some, but asks her readers to ponder why that is so:
Many of those upset by the breaks in convention, base their barometer for good and evil in their interpretation of religion. I think it’s safe to say that the judger stopped at a surface level of insight. Every religious tradition at its core, is based in love, kindness and acceptance of our human brothers and sisters. So, how have we come to overlook that in the name of social convention and a surface interpretation of right and wrong?
Every teaching across religious cultures preaches boundless love in one way or another. It’s the humans who put rules around what that means and pick and choose where it applies. It is not the wisdom of the ages at work, but rather the flaws of humans being perpetuated.
Beth Shorten has, in the last year, blogged about keeping faith despite the loss of a job and a brother. But she has also reflected on the things that she has, most notably, good friends. And she writes that, what she wants for all her friends–gay or straight–is the same: “good health and happiness. If that happiness includes getting married to a person of the same sex so be it.” It’s a belief that, for Shorten, transcends all others:
So Gay or Straight…if you want to get married, I hope you will. I hope you will love, honor and cherish the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. I hope others will be kind to you and you are kind to others.
Yes, call me an idealist, but what is wrong with people loving each other? Caring for each other? Taking care of each other? It seems to me that it can only make our world a better place.
