{"id":57335,"date":"2015-06-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uris-director-of-the-gender-and-sexuality-center-praises-supreme-court-decision-in-favor-of-same-sex-marriage-nationwide\/"},"modified":"2015-06-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T00:00:00","slug":"uris-director-of-the-gender-and-sexuality-center-praises-supreme-court-decision-in-favor-of-same-sex-marriage-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/06\/uris-director-of-the-gender-and-sexuality-center-praises-supreme-court-decision-in-favor-of-same-sex-marriage-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s director of the Gender and Sexuality Center praises Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAnnie Russell says ruling is monumental and life-changing<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 29, 2015 \u2013 The 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Center is hosting a barbecue Monday, June 29 to celebrate a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe\u2019ll provide food, music, and an atmosphere of complete elation,\u201d says Annie Russell, center director. \u201cJust bring yourselves to join in our celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe event will start at 3 p.m. at the newly opened center, 19 Upper College Road, on the Kingston campus. The public is invited.<\/p>\n


\nThe landmark opinion, released Friday, ruled that same-sex couples can marry nationwide \u2013 a historic victory for gay rights advocates. Married same-sex couples will now enjoy the same legal rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMark this date on your calendars,\u201d says Russell. \u201cJune 26, 2015 is a date that fundamentally changes the discourse in the United States on LGBTQ identity, affirmation of identity and legal validation of LGBTQ lives.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n As a young person growing up in Indiana \u2013 the country\u2019s heartland \u2013 Russell, who identifies as a lesbian, says that one of the most difficult things for her to imagine was that she would never be able to marry legally.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI knew that I would absolutely have a wedding, but I never thought it would be a public ceremony, let alone that my state and national government would recognize it as legal,\u201d she says. \u201cWords can\u2019t express what this day truly means to people like me and to so many others who have fought.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have fought to be able to live openly, holding partner\u2019s hands, and residing together,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople who have endured and continue to face threats, violence, and hatred for seeking the legal status and recognition of commitment and love. People who have watched their pensions, benefits or children stripped away, despite legal documentation guaranteeing protection. People who believed, against all odds, that one day, our country and government would see us as full and equal citizens under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe ruling, a 5-4 decision, asserts that it is \u201cdemeaning to lock same-sex couples out of a central institution of the nation\u2019s society. The limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples may have long seemed natural and just, but its inconsistency with the central meaning of the fundamental right to marry is now manifest.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nRussell says the decision bolsters \u201cmy feeling of inclusion in my own country.\u201d But her feelings, she says, are tempered with the knowledge that the LGBTQ community has more progress to make with parental rights, transgender inclusion, health care, hate crimes, immigration issues and non-discrimination laws \u2013 all of which require dedication and immediate attention.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cNow that marriage equality is a reality in our world, our community must look to these aspects of our movement with renewed energy and strength,\u201d she says. \u201cIndeed, the fight is not over. In many ways, we\u2019ve only just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe ruling comes just weeks after the opening of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Center, making the University the first institution of higher education in the country to design and build a freestanding LGBTQ center. The center runs more than 100 programs every year to educate and support people on issues related to gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n


\nThe center also sponsors speakers who discuss these issues and provides “safe zone” programs and other workshops to train students, faculty and staff on issues about the LGBTQ community. <\/p>\n


\n\u201c溏心vlog免费B站 was and is leading strongly in its advocacy and activism surrounding LGBTQ issues,\u201d says Russell. \u201cToday\u2019s victory is another moment in our history that we can now celebrate in a beautiful new center, with the whole community present. The sky is the limit for what we can continue to accomplish.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nPictured above:

\n溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Center.

\nAnnie Russell, director of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Center.

\nPhotos by Nora Lewis.\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annie Russell says ruling is monumental and life-changing KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 29, 2015 \u2013 The 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Center is hosting a barbecue Monday, June 29 to celebrate a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. \u201cWe\u2019ll provide food, music, and an atmosphere of complete elation,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}