Tuesday, May 26 was a dark day for anyone who believes in American freedom or justice.

On Tuesday, May 26, each and every Californian – GLBT and non-GLBT – awoke to a profoundly shocking ruling from the California State Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in this great state told the 70,000 plus California children raised in loving same-sex households that their families are not equal and their parents will not be allowed to marry in the state of California. They ruled that it is permissible for “the people” to vote to take away the rights of others, for neighbors to strip their neighbors of their right to marry.

The Court permitted a slim 4 percent of voters to eviscerate the equality provision of our state Constitution and to deprive an entire class of Californians of the fundamental freedom to marry.

While we all breathed a collective sigh of relief that the Court did not force the divorce of 18,000 married Californians and cause deep disruption to those families, our hearts break for the tens of thousands of others who have learned that in California they have lost their fundamental right to equal treatment under the law.

Many ask – why is California different than Iowa or Vermont or Maine? In those states the legislature or the State Supreme court ruled for equality, but so did California. Yes, the California Legislature TWICE passed a marriage equality bill (which the governor vetoed) and the California Supreme Court already ruled that to deny the right to marry was unconstitutional.

But in California there was yet another twist. In California a group devised a strategy to circumvent the legislature and disempower the courts. It spent millions to call for a “vote of the people” to strip away fundamental rights already recognized by the courts and force a vote by our neighbors on our basic equality! Can you imagine the outraged screaming if any other group faced such a vote, say perhaps a vote on whether Baptists should be stripped of the right to marry? Unconscionable and unthinkable. But it happened in California and the California Supreme Court held that such a vote is constitutional.

But this ruling will not be the end of this story nor this journey for justice.

Public opinion continues to move in the direction of fairness and equality, in California and all over the nation. Not only have vital lessons for all of America been learned from this civil rights loss, but tens of thousands have responded with new energy, new coalitions, new leadership joining renewed commitment from those who have fought so hard for so long.

From Facebook and Twitter, to the news waves and wires, all mediums have been full of different images and a different story than ever before: images of thousands of loving, committed couples and families who want only the freedom to be equal and to marry. Those images and stories are told anew every day and every day another Californian and another American joins us in this struggle. A newly formed, newly energized national coalition movement for equality will see this battle through to a victory in California.

Every day it becomes clearer and clearer to all Americans that this struggle is not about denying anyone or any religion the right to marry (or not marry) whomever they wish in their own churches and temples.

It is instead a struggle for the simple right to legally and civilly marry the ones we have spent a lifetime loving, protecting, and providing for; a struggle to respect all couples and all families. A struggle to preserve that uniquely American principle: equal treatment under the law.

It is a struggle we will win, and it is a struggle that must include every one of you. Every one of you finding creative, consistent ways to convince that 4 percent of Californians that marriage discrimination is wrong. Every faith leader who believes in love and justice, every elected and appointed government official who knows that equal treatment for all is the bedrock of our freedoms, every organizational leader who is committed to equal rights and every citizen who loves fairness must speak, because every voice will matter.

For more information on how to get involved, visit www.centeradvocacy.org, www.marriageequality.org, www.hrc.org or www.eqca.org.