The Tide Is Turning on Same-Sex Marriage

Just this week, both New Mexico and Utah legalized same-sex marriage (via the courts). I'm glad that the courts are starting to get in on the action. It's really just a matter of time. Our period today is like the late 1950s for blacks. From 1954 to 1968, blacks basically became equal citizens in all states. For example, there was Brown VS the Board of Education - school desegregation (1954), the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Rights Act (1965), and the Fair Housing Act (1968). In a period of 15 years, things dramatically changed. We're in that period for same-sex marriage now.

There are a few differences, though. For one, a lot of people forget that blacks and other minorities did have full rights for quite a while (in some cases perhaps even since America's founding) in many northern states. Here, same-sex marriage was not legal in any state until quite recently. It was only ten years ago, in 2003, when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Now, 18 states allow it.

So, how will things progress from here? I feel that gay marriage will become legalized in more and more states. The Bible Belt (slave states / Confederacy / Red states) will hold out (perhaps with a few exceptions because of "activist judges" as in Utah, although some of these judges' decisions may later be overruled), and the rest of the country will have equal rights. Then, the pressure will build to have the supreme court overturn all gay marriage bans that are left. Once again, the Bible Belt will be pulled kicking and screaming into a more just and equal world. Liberal people in the Bible Belt (now and in the future) will again be embarrassed that their state was yet again wrong. Future generations won't remember the many liberal-minded people in those states. They'll only remember that it was a "bad" state until a certain date, and whether or not the state resisted. The liberal minority will get lumped together with the morons by all but the most interested researchers.

However, there are two ways this expansion of civil rights can go down. The first way is that all of this happens within the next 10 years or so. It's a pretty quick process. The second possible way is that we will be stuck for decades with another "free state vs slave state" situation, as existed in the first half of the 19th century, or a "desegregated vs segregated state" situation, as existed in the first half of the 20th century. For 50 or more years, there could be a "marriage equality vs marriage inequality state" stand-off. I don't think that will happen, as attitudes are changing quickly and with enough momentum, old attitudes won't be able to hold on to power...but it's still a possibility.

Today's fight for equal rights is not just an American fight. Far from it. The nations of the world can either fight equality and eventually be overcome (even if we have to wait 500 years), or bite the bullet and be thought of as progressive by this and future generations. Countries from Uruguay to Sweden to South Africa have already legalized same-sex marriage. They are ahead of (most of) the United States. Other countries like Saudi Arabia don't let women drive cars or even bicycles, make women cover up and be escorted by a male relative at all times, don't allow religious freedom, and in general act like a society in the Dark Ages. The past 1,000 years have barely changed Saudi Arabia (except for dune-riding in Cadillac Escalades), so I have no reason to believe that gay marriage will be legal in the next 100 years. The United States was late outlawing slavery, but Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1962 - a full century after America. Obviously, marriage inequality will remain in some cultures far past the 21st century. But now is the chance to prove to future generations that we were not so backward (in this respect. With animal rights, our societies will remain backward for ages.)

Let's try not embarrass future generations.

Here is an article about this most recent news in Utah:

Judge Strikes Down Utah's Same-Sex Marriage Ban
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/20/21986955-judge-strikes-down-utahs-same-sex-marriage-ban

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