A lawyer whose firm has filed a friend of the court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of ending marriage discrimination notes that marriage equality is not a threat to any religious liberties. The courts are addressing civil marriage for same-sex couples, and it will have no impact on how religions prepare sermons, choose clergy, or any of the other rights protected as free exercise of religion under the constitution.

In Alabama, most people thought of change in attitudes and laws regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals as something that may arrive by next generation, or the one after that. Against all hope a federal court overturned the gay marriage ban there, a young man sees change in his own parents and their acceptance of his identity.

“While We’re Alive”

When he decided to come out to his parents at age 13, his mother told him that he made her sick, and had to leave the room to throw up. His father said simply, “look what you’ve done,” and that was that. While still a far distance from open embrace of his gender preference currently, his parents now can at least discuss his sexuality with him occasionally.

He still does not talk to them about the issue, except on rare occasions. When he came home from an event wearing a Human Rights Campaign t-shirt, on the day that gays were allowed to marry in the state, his father told him that he can accept his sexual preference, but that he should hide it in public.

He asked his mother directly if she would attend his gay wedding, if he were to get married. “I’d come, but I’d feel uncomfortable,” she replied. In her honesty and in her steps toward acceptance, he sees tremendous progress that he thought he might never know in his lifetime.

No Uniform “Religious” Definition

More than 2,000 individual clergy members and representatives of many mainstream religions signed on as supportive of the arguments stated in a friend of the court brief recently filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawyer notes that there is no real conflict between religion, or even with Christianity generally, and full acceptance of marriage equality in the country.

Looking squarely at the legal arguments before the court, it is clear that no religious liberties are involved in the matter, despite arguments from some groups to the contrary. The cases before the court relate only to civil marriage. There is no impact whatsoever on the free exercise of religion that is guaranteed in the first amendment to the constitution. No church is told how to practice its faith, or the content of any religious sermons.

Coming to See Equality

Laws may sometimes change quickly as momentum for new legal principles develops. Many times, the hearts and thoughts of people lag behind the laws. Some individuals feel threatened by those who seem outwardly different from them. When viewed through the lens of empathy, though, it becomes clearer that all people are very much alike. Everyone wants love, acceptance, and peace with family and neighbors.

Silent Lives

For LGBT individuals, though, society has generally required silence from them. The past century of efforts by many brave people has raised awareness of the reality of alternative gender preferences to the heterosexual norm. Finally, laws and policies in society are evolving to recognize the presence of gay people and accord them a modicum of human dignity and a basic level of equality.

True Religion

Religions that see all people as children of one universe, and truly as members of one great family, also see that opening hearts to full acceptance is the true spiritual path. Families that recognize the beauty of diversity can learn to be tolerant of each member’s individual self. There is no threat in opening to love.