It’s always bittersweet in June when the Supreme Court issues its major rulings, because I can’t help but wish school was in session so we could talk about them in my American history class.

In our Constitution unit we’ve spent a lot of time these last couple years talking about the Equal Protection Clause, tracing it from Chinese laundry owner Yick Wo up through more recent civil rights struggles. Inevitably, we end up looking at current events and asking where the Equal Protection Clause could or should be applied next.

Eighth graders are so strident and idealistic, and listening to them talk about marriage equality (among other issues) is just one of the best parts of my job. I’m really hoping they’re watching the news today (“SEE! Remember when I told you the Constitution was a living document that affects our lives everyday??!!”), and I’m hoping they’re already thinking about what the next step in the struggle for equal rights will be.

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File it under things you never thought you’d see happen: Despite a long-standing amendment to the Missouri Constitution that defines marriage as “between one man and one woman,” St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay issued marriage licenses to four same-sex couples this week [June 24, 2014].

According to St. Louis Public Radio:

During a press conference on Thursday morning, Slay said the move was not only “a matter of fairness” — but a way to make the city attractive to the most amount of people.

“Cities are strengthened by their families. I want St. Louis to be the sort of diverse and open place in which families — gay and straight — choose to live, be creative and build businesses,” Slay said. “This is a human rights issue. This is a quality of life issue. This is an economic issue.”

As a person who was in the 29% minority of Missourians who voted against the constitutional amendment in 2004, I am surprised, delighted and touched by the mayor’s courageous act. He did it, it has been widely reported, as a way of challenging the law and forcing Missouri’s Attorney General Rich Koster to take him to court. Despite cascading court rulings against legislated same-sex-marriage bans elsewhere, Missouri remains one of the 31 states that still have—and enforce—these mean, discriminatory laws.

I hope, of course, that Mayor Slay prevails. But this is Missouri, after all, and Slay represents the evil, urban, Democratic St. Louis area, which is surrounded by a sea of red. And the right-wing-Republican dominated Missouri legislature is going to have a giant tantrum over this, no doubt.

But stranger things have happened, as in the case of California’s Proposition 8, which yanked previously okayed marriage equality rights from same-sex couples in 2012. I’ve just watched the powerful new HBO documentary, “The Case Against 8,” and, if that protracted, uphill battle is an indicator, Slay is in for a long fight. He’s going to need some highly motivated and extremely competent lawyers—as did the anti-Prop 8 forces in California, who hired Ted Olson [former U.S. Solicitor General, outspoken conservative Republican, and the guy who “won over” the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore], and David Boies [possibly the best cross-examiner in the country, a liberal Democrat, who argued the Gore side of the 2000 election].

But, as demonstrated in “The Case Against 8,” good things do happen, and the trend is with Slay. Olson and Boies eventually prevailed in their arguments against Proposition 8. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the national Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and it sent the Prop 8 case back to California, where it was overturned.

So, kudos to Mayor Slay. Go for it, and don’t give up. It would be nice to live in state where, at long last, our sense of decency can be restored—at least when it comes to the constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness via love and marriage.

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