Tue Dec 11, 2012, 12:24 PM
Taverner (53,532 posts)
Ya know, Marriage Equality today looks like Civil Rights did in the 70s
Granted, I was born in 1970
But at that point, if you were to tell me about separate drinking fountains and schools, I wouldn't have got it. It just would have made no sense.
So today, with WA's marriage equality ceremonies, I look back and think "how come it took this long?" and almost a twinge of "wasn't it always this way?"
|
3 replies, 220 views
Reply to this thread
Back to top Alert abuse
Replies to this discussion thread
 3 replies |
Author |
Time |
Post |
 Ya know, Marriage Equality today looks like Civil Rights did in the 70s (Original post) |
Taverner |
Dec 2012 |
OP |
|
TlalocW |
Dec 2012 |
#1 |
|
Lydia Leftcoast |
Dec 2012 |
#2 |
|
Taverner |
Dec 2012 |
#3 |
Response to Taverner (Original post)
Tue Dec 11, 2012, 12:48 PM
TlalocW (8,957 posts)
1. An excellent essay I found on the web used this premise more or less
|
It made the point that ultimately, progressive ideas almost always win out - just maybe not as fast as we would like them.
He used examples like Galileo's imprisonment for saying the Earth wasn't the center of the galaxy, slavery, women's suffrage, and segregation. Every one of those issues had conservatives arguing tooth-and-nail for what is now considered the wrong side, but everyone - including today's conservatives (even the ones who might secretly like those policies/beliefs but keep quiet about it) - look at them and have an initial reaction of, "Wow. How could people believe that?" That's what the marriage equality issue will eventually be - most people will look back and say, "Why wouldn't they support it?" Oh, sure, you'll have hold-outs just like you have them for any long-discarded conservative ideal, but just like today's few anti-segregationists, anti-marriage equality people will be looked upon as out-of-touch yokels to be pitied.
TlalocW
|
Reply to this post
Back to top Alert abuse Link here
Permalink
Response to TlalocW (Reply #1)
Tue Dec 11, 2012, 01:00 PM
Lydia Leftcoast (46,822 posts)
2. I think it's an idea whose time has come--thanks to the many people willing to be "out"
|
If everyone's in the closet, then it's easy for the stereotypes to prevail. It's easy for conventional straight people to pretend that GLBT people either exist only in some far away big city or are so bizarre and unlike everyone else that they deserve whatever bad stuff comes their way.
But as more and more couples come out, the general public can see that GLBT people are just that, people, with the same kinds of virtues and vices as everyone else. They can see that the relationships of same-sex couples are exactly the same on the emotional level as the relationships of heterosexual couples: the thrill of first attraction, the decision to commit, the settling down into a comfortable routine, the fights and making up, and then either the devastation of having one partner die or the craziness of breaking up.
Twice a month, my church offers blessings for people who are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. Last time, two men who have been together for forty years came forward (this is not controversial in my parish, which has many GLBT members). I hope that they can live long enough to be married legally in Minnesota.
|
Reply to this post
Back to top Alert abuse Link here
Permalink
