KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A rally Wednesday evening brought a huge crowd of gay rights supporters and same-sex couples around a Kansas City park. The group was celebrating two decisions made Wednesday by the Supreme Court justices.
Lacy Haden and Ashley Peaches have been in a relationship for nearly a year.
On a hot summer afternoon, they stood alongside other members of Kansas City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community to celebrate what the group calls “a day of victory.”
“I’m really excited,” Peaches said. “I was nervous all morning and watching the blog to see what the decision was gonna be.”
“Everybody deserves to be equal, whether it’s gays and lesbians or different colored people. Everybody deserves equality,” said Haden.
The jubilant crowd celebrating two big decisions by the Supreme Court. One that strikes down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DoMA, and now gives previously denied federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.
“It’s about love. Love is love. I can’t change the person I love and I can’t change the gender of the person I love,” Said Caleb-Michael Files.
Members of Kansas City’s LGBT community are also applauding the high court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California.
“I think there’s gonna have to be another Supreme Court ruling because I don’t think the states are gonna do anything on their own,” Peaches said.
That sentiment was also echoed by Sandra Meaded with the Kansas Equality Coalition.
“The writing is on the wall,” she said. “I can’t say exactly when it’s gonna happen, but it’s gonna happen. Those discriminatory laws are coming down.”
Those opposed to the same-sex marriage are calling it a “sad day.” Some Republican members of Congress who oppose same-sex marriage lashed out at the high court on religious grounds.
Missouri Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler, a defender of the act, reacted to the ruling in a prepared statement:
“The court got it wrong,” Hartzler said. “The activist ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act ignored the votes of a bipartisan majority of congress. This alarming precedent disempowers congress from making national policy with respect to marriage. We must work to defend the rights of Americans to make marriage policy.”
The rulings do not have a broad impact on the country as a whole — only those states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Kansas and Missouri do not.
