I'm going to be honest. I'm conflicted.
Major, major props to the SCOTUS for their decision regarding DOMA and Prop 8, BUT, I'm still furious about their ruling regarding the Voting Rights Act. And it's because of this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/with-voting-rights-act-out-states-push-voter-id-laws/
I think that the strike-down of DOMA and Prop 8 are great victories for the LGBTQIA movement as well as a step towards equality, but the fight is not over. Yet the headlines explode and the media celebrates with confetti like it is? Because really? Pay attention to the dissenters. They're not done. Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp stated that he was ready for an uphill legal battle.
One victory should not wash over the other frightening problems, simply because they're not getting media attention. Staggering incarceration rates--the US has 25% of the world's incarcerated citizens; there are more incarcerated African-American males than there were slaves in the 1850s, and they are in prison mostly for nonviolent crimes. A costly healthcare system on track to bankrupt this country (the ACA only touches upon the fringes of the problem, unfortunately) where treatment is $9000 dollars in the US but $500 in other countries, without quality difference; where the pharmaceutical industry makes 4 times as much as the movie industry. Attempts to pass anti-abortion laws, and wealth gaps that have only increased since the 80s. PRISM. The drones. Zimmerman's trial.
The persistence of rape culture. Steubenville, anyone? And the suicide of a young girl in an area near where I live, a suicide that was hushed by the school board and where many lamented the careers of the rapists who continue to live while a young, beautiful girl does not.
I think that any day where there is a step towards equality is a day to be celebrated, but that should not let a country's citizens from forgetting to face national problems and striving to form a more perfect country, a more perfect union.
I think my negativity may also be affecting my views adversely. Or, maybe, I'm just so exasperated that the decision regarding DOMA and Prop 8 took so long, because I really don't understand why it's such a contentious issue to begin with. Aren't we a secular nation? Hello?