What is it about May 17 that makes it host to triumph over civil rights struggles? On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled the "separate but equal" facilities of segregated public schools were unjust. Then, on the day that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the court's landmark decision, same-sex couples in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were legally wed in public - and often celebratory - ceremonies.
We cannot help but draw parallels between these two watershed moments of civil rights victory. To be sure, the paths taken so that Linda Brown could attend a nearby white elementary school in 1950s Topeka, Kan., are in many instances profoundly and wholly separate from the road that led to Tanya McCloskey and Marcia Kadish's marriage Monday morning in Cambridge, Mass. But the imagery of the "Little Rock Nine" wading through protesters to break the color barrier at Central High School in 1957 is a figurative parallel to same-sex couples in Massachusetts withstanding taunts and slurs as they make their way to be legally wed by the city clerk. In both, there is a clear perception of triumph over oppression, and of maintaining that what might be popular is not always right.
It should also be carefully noted that when the "Little Rock Nine" tried to practice their right under the law in 1957, the President of the United States called in the National Guard to assist in their attempt. Yesterday, however, the current President of the United States issued yet another plea to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
The names and places in the respective struggles for African-Americans and same-sex couples have been changed, but in some cases, the song remains the same. We are not the institution to judge the wealth of Brown v. the Board of Education against Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court decision to permit legal same-sex marriage. The two are the result of different compromises, different injustices and different triumphs, linked only by their victories over repressive law. For every lynching, slur and prejudice hailed upon these two groups, May 17 remains standing as a day of vindication.
The plight for African-American civil rights in this nation did not cease the moment the Supreme Court reversed the "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson. The battle raged on, rages on and forever will as long as bigotry remains. Similarly, the marriage of same-sex couples in Massachusetts will hardly tip the scales of popular opinion on the issue. The Massachusetts court's ruling could very well be short-lived, just as Brown v. the Board of Education took years to fully implement. But the purpose is not to compare the two on the same criterion, for their is no blueprint in what a civil rights struggle needs to encompass in order to be important.
We solidly believe, though, that the merits of both struggles for civil rights and the eventual triumph over injustice warrants overdue and worthy attention. No cause for equal civil rights should ever lay down its sword until injustice is overcome and apathy is eradicated.
