The march of progress

If you’ve read this column for any length of time, you know that I had a substantial reason to be happy on Election Day.

Barack Obama was elected, and this country finally took a step forward from the last eight years, as well as the last century, and into the world of tomorrow.

Of course, as the old saying goes, for every step forward, you take two steps backward. In 2008, the nation’s two steps backward came courtesy of the great state of California.

As you most likely know, California’s voters passed Proposition 8, a measure designed to overturn a previous state Supreme Court decision stating that marriage could not be restricted to heterosexual couples, making gay marriage explicitly legal in the state. Because of the proposition’s passage, gay marriage is now no longer legal in the state, and the status of the marriages obtained while legal is now in doubt.

This past weekend, all across the nation and, really, around the world, protests against the passage of Proposition 8 took place, including in Bloomington. In cities like New York and San Francisco, one would probably expect protests. They’re fairly liberal cities with relatively large gay populations, where the gay rights movement has typically been centered.

I have hope, though, that before too long, Proposition 8 will be overturned, along with the similar referendums in Florida and Arizona. I have hope mainly because of the extent of the protests this weekend and the people who got involved.  

As I said, the protests were nationwide. There was one in New York, but also one in Missoula, Mont. There was one in San Francisco, but also one in Greeneville, S.C.

There was one in Chicago, but also one in Grand Forks, N.D. There were protests in all of the most and least likely places, involving the most and least likely people.

Democrats and Republicans protested, gay and straight. The only definite common denominator was that everyone present thought marriage should be defined as two mature adults who were in love, rather than two people of opposing genders.

The difference between now and the past is that today, despite the votes in those three states and others before them, gay rights are in the mainstream.

The people protesting weren’t just people with an active stake in the decision – not everyone at these protests was gay, nor did they all have a close gay friend or relative. I honestly couldn’t tell you whether I have a gay relative or friend, but I don’t think I do, and I’m still strongly in favor of equal marriage rights. It’s not just the far left supporting equality. It’s a wide coalition, built on our generation.

The opposition to Proposition 8 was poorly organized. But if and when the battle is fought again, if the forces of equality take a leaf from the Obama campaign’s book, they will win. The tide will turn. The next step in the American story will be taken.

Progress cannot be stopped by fear alone.