A person’s a person

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld gay marriage in all 50 states just as our nation said farewell to nine people killed by a racist in a Charleston church. Unrelated developments on the surface, but the themes of human dignity and human rights come spilling out when we touch these topics.

We support your right to believe what you will, but before you judge or act we hope you reflect on what it is to be human.

Your skin color, your gender and what attracts you to another person should not be reasons to be treated unfairly. That’s a question of morality.

But the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that no person be denied the “equal protection of the laws,” well that’s the law of our land. The U.S. Supreme Court did no more than read the document and the amendment that has stood since 1868.

Humanity compels us to join together, worship, raise our children and appreciate what is put before us. So maybe we’d all be better served to frame what the U.S. Supreme Court just told us by reflecting on what Dr. Seuss told us more than 60 years ago: If you missed that lesson, dust off your copy of “Horton Hears a Who” and listen to the wisdom of an elephant.

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "A person’s a person."