"Times can blind us to certain truths," Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in a major 2003 LGBT rights opinion, "later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact only serve to oppress."

Many voters and legislators really were blinded by the times, when they supported laws and constitutional amendments banning marriage equality. They did not realize that they knew LGBT people personally, and could not recognize the contributions that LGBT people and their families make--as employees, as neighbors, as part of the social fabric in every community in America. Some saw the LGBT community as strangers, not as people with the same hopes and dreams as anyone else.

In many respects, those oppressive times are behind us. In poll after poll, the broad majority of Americans now support marriage equality. Many people who once opposed it are unafraid to admit their views have evolved. Why? They've simply met LGBT people in their own lives.

In other words, the laws challenged in this case are more than fundamentally unfair. They were adopted at a time when many did not understand that LGBT Americans are individuals deserving of dignity. The Supreme Court has already recognized in US v. Windsor that LGBT people have an inherent right to dignity. In light of this undeniable truth, it's time to leave the blindness of the past behind, and guarantee the equal protection our constitution promises to every American.