Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi to Marry!

It was announced yesterday that the California Supreme Court had lifted the ban on gay marriage in the state. Later that same day Ellen Degeneres announced that she and long-time girlfriend, Portia de Rossi plan to marry.

"I’m thrilled that the California supreme court overturned the ban on gay marriage," Degeneres said. "I can’t wait to get married. We all deserve the same rights, and I believe that someday we’ll look back on this and not allowing gays to marry will seem as absurd as not allowing women to vote.
P.S. I’m registered at Crate & Barrel."

As a resident of Massachusetts, a state that legalized gay marriage several years ago, I ask California law makers, what took you so long?

There was a lot of controversy here before the right to marry was passed, but I always want to ask people who were so opposed, how has your life changed or been impacted in any way by gay and lesbian couples being allowed to marry?

I know many couples who were married after it became legal in our state, and it warms my heart that these couples - some together upwards of 30 years, were finally allowed to have the same legal rights that we heterosexuals so take for granted. And really, given the 57% divorce rate amongst we straights, it's not like we exactly have the market cornered on healthy, happy relationships.

I don't often get on a soapbox on this blog, and certainly not in my journalism work, but this is a topic that really perplexes me. I believe in equality across the board, isn't that what this country is built on?

Opponents are saying that this law undermines the essence of what marriage is and are vowing to try to make it unconstitutional in California for same sex couples to marry. Hmmm. I thought marriage was a legal commitment between two people who promise to love one another. Who cares what the genders of those people are? I don't understand how that undermines anything. Thankfully, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made it clear that he will veto any such amendment.

I know I am a bit of a Pollyanna in wanting everyone to be happy and get along. I really don't understand why people care about what good, kind people want to do in their own lives. In my area, many of the most active and caring people who do the most for their churches and community are gay men and women. I firmly believe they deserve all the inalienable rights the rest of us take for granted.

I am excited to be living in a time where the two Democrats left standing are a woman and an African American man. Maybe, just maybe we're coming to a time in history where sexual preference, gender and ethnicity will no longer matter, but what kind of person you are does. A woman can dream, can't she?