Quote of the day -- "the hope of companionship" edition

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.   In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.  As some of  the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.  It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage.  Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.  Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.  They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.  The Constitution grants them that right.

  - Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U. S. ____ (2015) at 28 (PDF link).

There are things I never really expected in my lifetime.  This is one of them.

I think many readers will understand that the Court's decision today somehow means even more to me since my own marriage to the Scatterkat.

Elsewhere in his opinion for the Court, Justice Kennedy writes, "Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there.  It offers the hope of companionship and understanding and assurance that while both still live there will be someone to care for the other."  Indeed.  My own marriage feels more valuable to me today, not less.

Congratulations today, to everyone who would like to get married, might ever like to get married, or whose marriages are now recognized all across the United States as a result of this decision.  And much love.

For all the darkness and despair I sometimes feel when I think about the state my country is in, days like today remind me that sometimes, yes, implausibly and improbably, love wins.