A woman of the 1960’s fell in love.
Nothing unusual there.
She went to Canada to marry her female lover. They were
together for 44 years until one passed away.
Now there is something different.
A federal estate tax bill was received by the surviving
spouse for $363,000. If this woman had chosen a man to marry the tax bill would
have been zero.
It is this brave American woman of the 1960’s who brought a
suit that has reached the Supreme Court of the United States. In her eighties
now, she was right out in front of the court edifice, on the steps, asking to
be protected from discrimination in the tax codes.
For 44 years she lived quietly, happy and content. It does
not appear that she marched, protested or demanded acceptance for her
lifestyle, the choice she made so long ago. She did not become an “in your face”
person until her government told her she was different from other citizens.
No reasonable person can believe that this is equal
treatment under the law.
No reasonable person could believe this wrong should not be
righted.
This has nothing to do with religious beliefs. This has to
do with federal laws being applied unfairly. Our country is better than this.
I hope my readers will not get caught up in all the sturm
und drang on the issue of gay marriage. What is today before our
Supreme Court in no way seeks to interfere with the religious beliefs of any
people. It seeks to interfere with the outrageous application of laws in a
manner meant to create second-class citizens.
Americans of all beliefs and practices need to accept that
no one requires us to celebrate what we tolerate. What we as a nation tolerate
needs to be equality under the law. We can be, and are, individual and unique.
We need to learn to accept that individuality and uniqueness and the right of
each of us to pursue happiness.
It is not necessary for me to want to practice in my life
what you practice in yours. It is not required that I affirm what you choose to
do. It is important, however, that I recognize your right to make those
choices.
What happened to this couple, and presumably to many other
couples, is appalling and should not be countenanced by any enlightened people.
This woman spent 44 years with her partner.
I have spent 44 years with my wife. If I am sick no one
questions her right to make medical decisions on my behalf. If I die no one
questions her right to make funeral plans, to inherit, to continue to soldier
on in our home without me.
The woman at the center of this case before the Supremes
seems no to have the same rights. The question before the Supremes will be loaded
with legalese. The question before American citizens is simple:
WHY?
The very people most upset about same sex marriage are those
that also think church and state should be separate.
The state exists to protect the people and to ensure equal
treatment of all.
The church exists to encourage moral behavior and religious
belief.
There is no reason these entities cannot be compatible.
There is no winning argument that one should “trump” the
other.
Everyone is free to believe whatever he or she chooses and
to practice whatever religion they find meaningful, or to practice none at all.
Human beings should be permitted under the law to enjoy the
companionship of anyone they choose and not to have that choice judged by the
government.
It would be good to see Christian charity applied to this
recent “dust up” and to see the good men and women of this nation demonstrate
the kind of common sense that our Founding Fathers wrote so eloquently about in
framing our Constitution.
What I see in the treatment of this woman and others like
her is just another form of something we cannot tolerate:
Bullying.
