El Nacional de Tulsa

ENGLISH HARKERLAWOFFICEPLC Somos una firma de abogados que trabajamos a tiempo completo especializados en Leyes de Immigración y Naturalización. •Tarjetas de Residencia •Permisos de Trabajo •Servicio de Immigración para familias y Negaocios •Representación a Clientes en Cortes de Immigración •Naturalización •Asistencia con DACA/Dream Act Asistimos a nuestros clientes en: Contamos con intérpretes a su servicio 1831 East 71 st St. Suite 313, Tulsa OK 74136 johnharker@harkerlawofficeplc.com 918-877-2615 EL DE OKLAHOMA NACIONAL S P A N I S H M E D I A G R O U P More Places. More Readers. Every Week. NoticiasOklahoma.com For special discount frequency pricing call: OKC Edition 405-632-4531 Tulsa Edition 918-947-8100 "Más Servicios, Mejores Precios" 2121 S. GARNETT RD. STE. 2 | TULSA, OK 74129 T: 918-439-3505 | F: 918-439-3506 MultiserviciosGarza ✔ Placas ✔ Titulos ✔ Stickers ✔ Titulos 42 ✔ Notaría Pública ✔ Traducciones ✔ Paqueteria ✔ Transporte a casi ✔ Toda la Rep. 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SARA MARTINEZ coordinator of the hispanic resource center of tulsa-city county public library system ISAAC ROCHA chairman tulsa's young profesionals DANIEL CHABOYA president of tulsa intercultural association 918·947·8100 REPRESENTANTES DE VENTAS PERRY KEPFORD VICTOR VILLAR ALEX GOMEZ DISEÑO GRAFICO SAMUEL CARDONA MARCO SANTA MARÍA EDITOR DE VIDEOS MATTHEW COON EL DE OKLAHOMA NACIONAL Oklahoma's Trusted Spanish News Source. EDITORA EJECUTIVA ROSA QUIROGA-KING CHIEF - EDITOR CARLOS ORTIZ GERENTE DE OPERACIONES SOFÍA HIDROGO Proud Partners Of: ADS E-MAIL ads.nacional@coxinet.net NEWS E-MAIL news.nacional@coxinet.net noticias.nacional@coxinet.net GENERAL E-MAIL nacional@coxinet.net SERVICIO AL CLIENTE LAURA BECERRA The Perfect Union By Omar Cisneros Oklahoma, in the eyes of the rest of the country, is the buckle of the "bible belt". e reasons are apparent. In 2004, Referendum #711 was approved in Oklaho- ma resoundingly by 76% of all voters, a strong 3-1 mar- gin. e referendum declared marriage only to be recog- nized between a man and a woman, and that marria- ge licenses issued in another state to same-sex couples where not valid in Oklaho- ma, and any person who willingly issued a marriage licenses to same-sex couples could face criminal charges. In July of this year, e 10th Circuit Court of the Uni- ted States declared referen- dum #711, unconstitutional. e decision was appealed to the Supreme Court which on October 6th, choose not to hold arguments on the issue, thus paving the way for same-sex couples to be eligible to contract marriage. Defenders of the decision of the Supreme Court decla- red a victory for LGBT rights in the state and many other states of the Union. Under the law, married people have certain privileged rights, now many same-sex couples are entitled to the same rights. Gov. Mary Fallin declared that state sovereignty have been trampled upon "by a federal government out of control and arrogant." Bis- hop Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, through the Facebook page of the Diocese of Tulsa declared disillusionment with the Supreme Court for their decision not to hold a hearing on the matter. One cannot look at the LGBT Rights Movement and not be reminded of so many other attempts by small mar- ginalized groups to attain political and social acceptan- ce in our country. e Litt- le Rock Nine, a group of Afri- can American students who attempted to enroll in Litt- le Rock Central High School in 1957. Who because of the racial divide in our country required an escort of an elite military detachment of the United States Army to attend school for a year. Or of the Loving family, who were an interracial couple that faced jail time and exile from their community because of it was illegal in their state for them to marry (Loving v. Virginia 1967). People in our national history, regardless of their race, creed, and political bac- kground, stood up for what they thought was right and honorable. ey did this even if it was hard and or political suicide. In 20, 50, or a 100 years from now, how will all of this look in the eyes of future generations? We can't say. Will they see this time in history as a moment when our country moved towards justice, equality and plura- lism? Or will see this as just another hole in our founda- tion which led to our frag- mentation and our prematu- re downfall? is, we cannot say as well. Yet, to those futu- re generations, we owe it to them in our present time to follow a path that will allow them to grow and prosper and be happy. Imagine if Pre- sident Lincoln did not push Congress in 1868 to pass the 14th Amendment, which gave everybody person born or naturalized in the United States complete rights of citi- zenship, I wouldn't of been born a US citizen, regard- less of me being born within the US. e dots don't seem to connect from the 14th amendment that was pas- sed as part of the reconstruc- tion phase at the end of the American Civil War, to a Lati- no boy born in Denver many years later. But they do, and that is the beauty of it, we have to be conscious of how the past affects us. You might be saying. "Ok, Omar. What about the children?" Many argue that Same-sex marriage in our state will lead to more chil- dren being raised in same-sex households which are not the proper environment to raise a child. I see your point, and again referring to the Loving v. Virginia case in 1967. e Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia made the same argument for interracial couples being allowed to wed. Interracial couples would raise mixed race babies and these mixed children would be shunned by society "So think about the children!" e Supreme Court back then shot that argument down very quickly and swiftly made Anti-misce- genation laws (anti-interbre- eding laws) unconstitutional. Our Founding Fathers wrote to us a blank check in the Constitution. at we must move towards a "more perfect Union." at even with all of their hard work, their attempts to create a perfect society, the work as not done (and may never be done). It became the respon- sibility of future generations to continue towards the right path. Is same-sex marria- ge towards the right path? I don't know for certain, but what I do know is that I can- not ask for legal rights for my undocumented commu- nity without first acknowled- ging the struggles of other peoples who are different from me and want their stru- ggles to be recognized. e- refore, the rights of all Ame- ricans, regardless of gender, political affiliations, religious beliefs, and current legal sta- tus are incomplete without the basic legal protections for our LGBT community. T-2 EL NACIONAL DE TULSA VIERNES 10 DE OCTUBRE, 2014 • www.noticiasoklahoma.com TULSA

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