Everybody is talking about the events of last week as it pertains to marriage equality. The media has covered the stories ad infinitum and pundits comment morning, noon and night. Newsweek's cover calls Barack Obama "The First Gay President". The public buys into the hoopla, but, after all is said and done, there's only one policy change and policy is all that matters.
North Carolina joined 37 other states with a constitutional or statutory ban on gay marriage. That number could grow to 42 states with a ban on same-sex marriage dependent on the four state with the issue on the ballot this year. Voters in Minnesota, Maine, Maryland and Washington will cast their ballots to determine how their states will legislate the fate of citizens in the LGBT community. Only 4 states and the District of Columbia have held that gay marriage is legal within their boundaries. Interesting isn't it that 50% of the American public polled favor marriage equality.
The bottom line is that denying LGBT citizens the right to marry discriminates against them since they can not qualify for 1,138 federal benefits that are available to married couples. We therefore continue to have two classes of citizens in our country. That's about civil rights, not religion.
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