11 years ► Ludology Now!

Today is the 11 year anniversary of the day the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in America.

Think about that. All of you are old enough to remember when it happened. You remember when, suddenly, people who had lived together for years could finally officialize their love for each other. I knew multiple couples who got married as fast as they could once the law was passed, because they were scared it would be taken away just as quickly. Thankfully, it’s been 11 years, and that has not happened. Yet.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court struck down legal segregation in 1954, 72 years ago, but it took 11 years until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and then another four until the Fair Housing Act “outlawed” it completely.

11 years. That’s nothing. That’s not even as long as GTA 6’s development time (13 years). It’s not half as long as it’s been since 9/11, or the launch of the iPod (25 years for both). It’s not nearly as long as 72 years, but there are hundreds of thousands of people still alive who remember everyone being allowed in schools just like we remember gay people being allowed to marry. 72 years is your grandma, your grandpa, or, more likely to people our age, our mothers and fathers. It was right there, we just slightly missed it, just like they slightly missed women gaining the right to vote. That was only 106 years ago, after all.

America is 250 years old this year. For 178 of those years, only straight white men could do anything – hold land, respect, money – with any degree of freedom. For 144 of those years, only men could make decisions. “Freedom” was for a select few.

11 years ago the country got a little more free than it had ever been before. I wish I still felt about it today like I did about it then. But we’re still here and we’re still trying to make it better than it was, and I hope that helps.

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Christopher J Teuton

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