Chief Justice Roberts,
I write to ask that you use your influence on the Supreme Court to ensure unanimous support for marriage equality.
I realize that Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kennedy and Breyer can strike down bans on same sex marriage without you or the three other conservative justices. A fractured Court isn’t uncommon, but this issue is too important to accept division.
America needs to know that the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ community are not subject to debate.
If the Supreme Court speaks with one voice, it would lend moral and legal weight to the decision. Marriage equality would be seen as a human rights issue rather than a political tool to divide the country.
The Supreme Court has guided the nation through change many times. In Brown v. Board of Education (1952), the Court unanimously declared that segregation was corrosive to the human spirit. This is the Supreme Court’s chance to speak once again on behalf of those seeking justice.
I understand that opponents of marriage equality have sincere religious objections, but the right to equal protection under the law, guaranteed by our Constitution, does not end just because it makes some people uncomfortable.
Some Americans were uncomfortable with interracial marriage, they were uncomfortable with women voting, they were uncomfortable with the many waves of immigrants trying to make new lives in America.
Interracial marriage would destroy the sanctity of the institution.
Women voting would emasculate our government.
Immigrants would destroy what is fundamental to American society.
It sounds familiar.
These attitudes have stoked our innate fear of “the other” to combat change, but they cannot hold back the inevitable tide of progress forever. Those who put their comfort before the basic rights of others have always been on the wrong side of history.
The legacy of the Court is at stake, Chief Justice Roberts; the time is now to uphold the Constitution of these United States.
The LGBTQ community, my family members, my friends and professors deserve to pursue their happiness unobstructed by government. As someone deeply committed to individual liberty, I am sure you can empathize.
It is time to bring the people of this country together. A unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court would go a long way towards achieving that goal.
