Love wins. That simple yet powerful statement will forever be engrained within the etchings of history. On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing same sex marriage in all 50 states. Love wins: the victory cry of hundreds of thousands of individuals who now have the right to be married freely. Many see this as a huge stepping stone in the U.S. toward the fight for equal rights for all. Many others believe that this is a major wrong-doing. Opinions are what govern our judgements, but this is truly an amazing accomplishment for the LGBTQ community in the U.S. I hope that my words can help others see this.

Many Christians believe this is a major violation by the U.S. government to pass this law, being that the Christian God decrees that marriage is a holy and spiritual union between one man and one women. They justify that this is the way the U.S. government should view marriage as well because we are “one nation under God.” But what God is that exactly? In that one statement laid out by our founding fathers of this truly amazing country, there is no clear distinction of what exact God they are referring to. Yes, many of our founding fathers were Christian men, so it could very well be inferred that they are referring to the Christian God. But in the same breath it is not distinctly written that the Christian God is the one they are referring to. Not to mention there is a clear separation of church and state for many reasons. To list a few: so that religious freedom can truly be practiced without prejudice, so that people’s rights as human beings can be protected by the objective outlook of the law, and finally so that we can govern ourselves in lawful harmony with each other.

So what point am I trying to make? The point that I am making is, despite what your religious background says, in the eyes of the law every man and women is equal in every which way. Which being a Christian myself, I know that is how God created us all. The government is there to protect and serve its people when they are being persecuted and discriminated against. Just like the government did with women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement. A truly free and harmonious country cannot be an entity if its own people discriminate against each other based on race, sex, or even sexual orientation. You are your own person. Your beliefs are forged through your own life experiences. So what place do you have to discriminate against someone who has a different sexual orientation than you?

Yes, in fact, love did win today. Why can’t two people who genuinely love each other be married legally in the eyes of an objective and impartial law system? They should be praised and given joyful encouragement for that decision. A marriage is not easy. Hell, a relationship is not easy. But two people devoting themselves to each other out of genuine love should not be discriminated against because they are of the same sex. Not to mention, married couples help the economy as a whole more than a single person. So there’s even an economic advantage to same sex marriage. Use your logic and basic human reasoning to truly decide what’s true and just. Their love should be praised just as much as anyone else’s. To sum everything up into one simple statement: love wins. I know my personal faith has opposition toward this outcome, but my personal choice is to love these people as much as Jesus Christ himself would have loved them.

Instead of showing hate and disdain towards something that you may oppose, show some tolerance. You don’t have to personally practice it yourself, but appreciate the fact that these people fought hard for something they passionately believed in. Don’t be a poor sport. Show some unconditional love just like Jesus Christ did. I mean after all, we have free will. I’m sure even Jesus Christ knew that you could lead a horse to water but not make it drink. In the end, people are going to go about their lives anyway. But intimate, genuine, and passionate love did win on 6/26/2015.