Four Steps Forward and Three Steps Back.
Such is the pace of any huge movement that involves informing the uneducated and ridding the puritan masses of their ignorant prejudices.
It's never a quick coup. MLK planted a seed in the 50s which took ten years to germinate and sprout. Civil Rights is a slow-growing, hardwood tree. It's still in its baby stages, but think how far the "dream" has come since its inception in the orations of MLK. And, in the long run, it's better to have these ideas realized in hardwood; not flimsy pine that can be easily sawed down later.
It seems equally slow-going to shift popular, ignorant public opinion about my basic civil right to marry.
Prop 8 was upheld 6 to 1 in California yesterday. The one dissenting vote was accompanied with the old iron-sides argument of, "The majority should not oppress the minority." It's a sturdy argument, but one slow to settle into the minds of the knee-jerk right. MLK, for example, never got to see his dream achieved.
It's depressing, especially coming from a hippy-dippy state like California which is supposed to be historically progressive about stuff. Yesterday was decidedly Three Steps Back for my civil rights.
But there's Massachusetts, Hawaii, the U.K., South Africa, and a handful of other places on the globe that officially recognize same-sex and transgender marriages. Before you start overly ruing the embarrassing event in California yesterday, think how far this new civil rights movement has come in such a short time (three decades?).
I mean, shit, if you can be an openly out sports hero and not have it affect your career, that's miles and miles of progress. Think about it: rednecks watch sports!
It will happen. It's a huge change, and they take awhile to process. It can take so long that the natural progress of time may need to oust the current "ruling" generation, and let the next generation who grew up with less hateful prejudices about homosexuality step in. Yah, yah, that's not quick enough for me either. I really would like to marry my husband-elect* right now. But despite the shameful behavior of California yesterday, I still see progress. And I see a light at the end of this dark, stupid tunnel.
It will happen.
* I call Ben my "husband-elect" because he won the popular vote, but he's not in office yet.
It's never a quick coup. MLK planted a seed in the 50s which took ten years to germinate and sprout. Civil Rights is a slow-growing, hardwood tree. It's still in its baby stages, but think how far the "dream" has come since its inception in the orations of MLK. And, in the long run, it's better to have these ideas realized in hardwood; not flimsy pine that can be easily sawed down later.
It seems equally slow-going to shift popular, ignorant public opinion about my basic civil right to marry.
Prop 8 was upheld 6 to 1 in California yesterday. The one dissenting vote was accompanied with the old iron-sides argument of, "The majority should not oppress the minority." It's a sturdy argument, but one slow to settle into the minds of the knee-jerk right. MLK, for example, never got to see his dream achieved.
It's depressing, especially coming from a hippy-dippy state like California which is supposed to be historically progressive about stuff. Yesterday was decidedly Three Steps Back for my civil rights.
But there's Massachusetts, Hawaii, the U.K., South Africa, and a handful of other places on the globe that officially recognize same-sex and transgender marriages. Before you start overly ruing the embarrassing event in California yesterday, think how far this new civil rights movement has come in such a short time (three decades?).
I mean, shit, if you can be an openly out sports hero and not have it affect your career, that's miles and miles of progress. Think about it: rednecks watch sports!
It will happen. It's a huge change, and they take awhile to process. It can take so long that the natural progress of time may need to oust the current "ruling" generation, and let the next generation who grew up with less hateful prejudices about homosexuality step in. Yah, yah, that's not quick enough for me either. I really would like to marry my husband-elect* right now. But despite the shameful behavior of California yesterday, I still see progress. And I see a light at the end of this dark, stupid tunnel.
It will happen.
* I call Ben my "husband-elect" because he won the popular vote, but he's not in office yet.