Statement: Obersturmgefell

"The only people with standing in this case were children of same-sex couples. Gay couples themselves might get a marriage rather than a civil union, but they are nonetheless able to get a divorce and change their identity to heterosexual again, if they feel so inclined. The right to a relationship with one's own mother and father is more universal, lifelong, and fundamental than the right to marry, yet the Court has given an adult class the non-essential right to marriage at the expense of an essential (and existential) right for a group that truly needed equal protection and due process (children). It is troubling that Justice Kennedy's decisions did not need to cite birth certificates and custody as rights tied intrinsically to marriage, yet he did, gratuitously strip away the rights of future citizens to the care of their mother and father as well as of their right to know where they came from. The complete disregard for the research and testimony from children of gays in both the majority opinion and the dissenting opinions is as chilling as it is ominous. The Supreme Court will be haunted by the grievances of citizens forcibly estranged from their parents and deprived of their heritage because of this ruling, for decades if not centuries to come."

Robert Oscar Lopez