May we look back 20 years from now and have the joy of remembering that the Supreme Court, instead of leaving us to live in 50 different Americas while the justices themselves lived in one America, found in its wisdom and strength that equal protection of the law is more than just words.

Seeing those who seek marriage as entitled to it not only as a general matter of civil rights, or as a marker of full citizenship, but rather as a form of protection for children, may bring us to marriage equality, even if we get there by taking very small baby steps.

Last week, as we were preparing to hit "send" on our income tax returns, we thought that maybe, just maybe, this year will be the last that legally married lesbian and gay couples will have to lie to the federal government about the nature of their relationships and file their taxes as single people.

Edie Windsor's refusal to pay a tax from which a straight person would have been exempt seems stirringly similar to Rosa Parks' refusal to get out of a seat in which a white person would have been able to stay. When I'm a very old gay man, I'll be able to look back and say, "It all started with Edie, and I was there."

Braiden Neubecker was sitting on the bed and her dad was shaving at the sink as the president made his historic remarks about gay marriage during his...

Well, folks, as we settle into the long lull between the arguments to the Supreme Court on Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act and the expected decision in late June, allow me to present the First-Ever Ennead Awards.

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard two days of historic arguments over marriage equality, I talked with Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), which coordinated the amicus briefs and the party briefs in United States v. Windsor.

How dare we who are heterosexual presume to control and limit LGBT people's lives? How dare we suffer the conceit that being gay is mutable and can or should be changed by therapy?

Following Tuesday and Wednesday's hearings, I'm approaching all nine Supreme Court justices (yep, one at a time) like a bossy, side-ponytail-sporting 5-year-old offering advice, cynicism, support and even some actual ideas. (Hey, Scalia! I saved an extra minute for you!)

Marriage is not liberation. But I don't actually think that liberation is what this week's same-sex marriage euphoria is all about. I think that it's less about marriage and more about what this moment represents in terms of the achievement of public recognition.

DOMA clearly violates equal protection, but the Supreme Court could repeal it on more technical grounds, ruling either that House Republicans lack standing to defend it, or that it is an attack on states' rights. But either of these less desirable outcomes would still be a victory for marriage equality.

What is clear is that we are far from done with discussing these issues at the Supreme Court. The past two days' hearings made it clear in many ways that follow on litigation will come to sort out other questions for the Court to decide.

It is not the Constitution that changes. It is we, the people. When applying an old principle to a modern situation, we need not be hostages of history.

Can we at least agree that so-called traditional marriage is a phenomenon of Western civilization? Those who oppose marriage equality based on biblical teachings must know that the notion of traditional marriage ends in the 4th chapter of Genesis.

I am a Canadian woman who has been married to an American woman for sixteen years. My two sons have been raised in a world where having two moms is totally normal -- and wonderful.

Because of the justices' skepticism regarding BLAG lawyer Paul Clement's arguments in favor of DOMA, it seems quite likely that there are at least five votes on the court to invalidate it, especially if such a decision were based on issues of federalism rather than on an equal protection question.

Here are three hashtag-free benefits of marriage, all of which should be enjoyed equally by all people, not just the heterosexual ones.

The Supreme Court justices will hear arguments on DOMA in the very week that Christians acknowledge the holy terror permitted by Pontius Pilate as he heard the arguments against Jesus Christ. Pontius found no fault in Jesus but gave him over to a murdering crowd anyway.

Yesterday and today the Supreme Court is hearing arguments that address a common question: Should all Americans have the freedom to marry the person they love? The children being raised by LGBT parents are in an excellent position to answer that question, and they are speaking out.