Gay Marriage in California

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

I hope I live to see the day when the exclusions of gays from the federal, state and societal benefits and responsibilities of marriage will seem as foreign, repugnant and indefensible as did the anti-miscegenation laws of the first half of the 20th century;

I hope I live to see the day when society scorns loudly and frequently anyone who even thinks about carrying a placard proclaiming his god’s loathing of people who are different from himself;

I hope I live to see the day when the insidious cover of religion no longer suffices to validate bigotry and ignorance;

I hope I live to see the day when an openly transsexual woman can walk into any shit-kicking bar in Texas and flirt with the man of her choice witH NO fear of being dragged to her death on a back road;

I hope I live to see the day when all human beings on this earth receive respect and acceptance from their fellow humans, irrespective of race, nationality, religion, sexuality, gender or appearance.

The California Supreme Court’s decision regarding gay marriage was just another small step for humankind, though a giant leap for Californians. Surely, it provides a tiny flickering ray of hope for anyone who hopes people will eventually live up to the lofty rhetoric their philosophers and moralists espouse.

Like so many others here and elsewhere, I find myself in a holding pattern, withholding any true sense of joy or relief until the voters of California render their verdict with regard to the anti-gay marriage amendment to the California Constitution. I cannot bring myself to enjoy this moment, historically significant though it is…

As I said in answer to today’s MLW’s Question of the Day,

I am not convinced the bigots of California will suffer defeat in the fall. I suspect that a narrow majority will vote into the California Constitution language limiting “Marriage” to heterosexual couples.

I further suspect that this enshrining of bigotry and hatred in the state Constitution will wipe the smug smirk off the faces of those of us who thought we could just point out the logic and morality of our argument and win the day against a mindset that heeds neither logic nor fair-mindedness, let alone morality, when it comes to issues that terrify their lizard brains.

I guess I just keep waiting for another Plessy v. Ferguson to rescind all the progress made and hurtle us all back into the darkness.

Still and all, each small step forward results in ripples of change in the collective unconscious, and though it may be too much to hope that people will one day cease living in fear of what they do not understand, I do think there will come a day when at least the laws of humankind reflect its potential for achieving true equality for all under that law.