Unless you’ve been living in an underground bunker with zero modern conveniences, you’ve certainly heard about Friday’s Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556, slip op. (U.S. June 26, 2015) (dissenting opinions by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) legalizing gay marriage throughout the country by a 5-4 margin.

In writing the opinion of the majority, Justice Kennedy summed up the decision as follows:

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they dorespect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find itsfulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.

It is so ordered.

I have many friends in the gay and lesbian community and I’m thrilled that they are finally free to love and marry freely. Frankly, some of the longest enduring and healthy relationships I know are between two men.

Can we quit calling it “traditional marriage” and “gay marriage” and just call it “marriage” now?

In response to the ruling and in honor of this weekend being Pride Weekend, Facebook created an easy way to celebrate pride and the gay marriage ruling with your Facebook profile picture. I have 451 Facebook friends and, including myself, 92 of my friends (including me) proved that although we are straight, we are allies and our relationships aren’t threatened in the slightest by allowing everyone to marry. That’s 20% of my friends standing with our LGBT friends and family. I’m certain that many more of my friends are standing on the right side of history today, even though they didn’t change their photo.

My friend Meggan, author of Trans Girl at the Cross, created a wonderful collage of her friends who were celebrating the gay marriage decision through their profile pictures. Individual pictures are great, but seeing all of us together was awe inspiring and powerful. Meggan’s collage inspired me to create my own collage. In fact, I created five collages. They’re in the photo gallery below.

Congratulations everyone and Happy Pride Weekend!

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