Celebrating Love

Newsletter June 30, 2025 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

As PRIDE month comes to a close, we settle in on July 1- this is also a date of importance for the LGBTQ+ community. On Wednesday, June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court (in United States v. Windsor) removed the limit of federal recognition of marriage to heterosexual couples only, which allowed for legal marriage to couples regardless of gender in California. This meant that the licenses would become widely available that Monday morning, July 1. As expected, hundreds of couples lined up at courthouses around the country to file their paperwork to obtain their licenses to wed.

Melissa and I were one of those couples eager to claim our equal rights under the law. By that point we had already been together for 9 years. And we were in line behind a gay couple who had been together 35 years. The ruling allowed us all the dignity of being able to claim the over 1,000 rights married couples are granted by law. It was a day of love and joy and dignity and celebration. The amazing gay club known as The Abbey hosted a giant community wedding reception for all couples marrying with professional photographs, champagne, dancing and cake! Here we are with new friends Wanda and Lauryne who also married that day at our shared wedding reception at The Abbey.

In 2015, the Obergefell v. Hodges United States Supreme Court case would give rights to those seeking gay marriage federally. Other than the fact that these landmark cases dignified hundreds of thousands of couples, is that it stood for an incredibly important principle: that love is love. Gay marriage isn’t better than straight marriage- it is just that it is now equal in the eyes of the law.

After 17 years in the rabbinate, I have now officiated hundreds of weddings, and I can tell you that when two people call me to ask me to officiate their wedding, their joys are the same regardless of gender. Their hearts are just as filled. And their interest in having the state recognize their commitments is just as sincere. 

And how fitting is it that this ruling happened at the tail end of June and marriage became available at the beginning of July, the months of stunningly gorgeous summer weddings. Below you will find photos of weddings I recently officiated. On the faces and in the hearts of these Keeping It Sacred couples, or shall we say, couples keeping it sacred, regardless of their gender, their love is just as vibrant, joyful and worthy of dignity.

In the Reform Jewish tradition, since 2000, and before the U.S. Supreme Court cases noted above, Reform Rabbis have been granted the right to officiate queer wedding ceremonies.  In the years since, queer marriage ceremonies have become more widely available and have been recognized as equally blessed. 

Our Keeping It Sacred members are proud to affirm gay and straight marriage alike. We share the joys of people declaring their love to one another in the context of Jewish life and love. We know that our community thrives when all of our members do equally. 

Here, we uplift love of God, love of oneself, love of family, love of community, love of life purpose, and marital love alike. The many manifestations of human connection in all of its forms are each precious in their own right. Each are worthy of celebration, because it takes a lot of love to allow for each individual to thrive. Love in each of its forms provides the structure for spiritual wellness. 

So today, whether you are celebrating love in its romantic, platonic, individual or communal forms, please do celebrate it. This is how we’re keeping it sacred.

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred…

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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 Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...