Ellen DeGeneres, daytime's funniest
talk show host, on Friday posted her own legal brief, saying someone
was sure to tweet it to the Supreme Court justices considering two
cases related to gay marriage.
DeGeneres married her wife Portia de
Rossi in 2008 before Proposition 8, California's marriage ban,
overruled a California Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage for
gay and lesbian couples.
“I've never filed a brief to the
Supreme Court, so I thought I would post mine here,” DeGeneres
wrote. “I'm sure someone will tweet it to them. Portia and I
have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my
life. And in those 4 years, I don't think we hurt anyone else's
marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they're fine.
But even though Portia and I got married in the short period of time
when it was legal in California, there are 1,138 federal rights for
married couples that we don't have, including some that protect
married people from losing their homes, or their savings or custody
of their children.”
“The truth is, Portia and I aren't as
different from you as you might think. We're just trying to find
happiness in the bodies and minds we were given, like everyone else.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, 'We’re here, we’re queer, get
over it.' And there's another famous quote that says 'A society is
judged by how it treats its weakest members.' I couldn't agree with
that more. No one's really sure who said it first, so if anyone
asks, tell them I said it.”