The Gantry Launchpad

My first reaction is "It's not 'activism' when you move to eliminate the offending decision." That is to say, the original decision proposed changes far beyond the original intent of constitution of the great state of Massachutsetts. While I haven't studied the decision in great detail, I think the judges went too far, far too quickly.

This is not to say that I oppose gay marriage. This is not the case. But more than a few folks (including a few gay/lesbians I know, including one self-professed "Green/Yellow-dog Democrat" {g}) hold that pushing for complete acceptance, now actually increases resistance among middle-of-the-road Americans. Add to that the bad idea that many Federal judges apparently believe -that they are collectively Earl Warren, and that they Constitution is written in pencil- and you have a recipe for negative reaction against gay marriage. I cite the various November, 2004 State referendum/amendments as evidence. The results were decisively against gay marriage.

I think this is less a widespread prejudice against gay marriage than a reaction against what many feel to be a frequently abused judicial override of the administrative perogative.

A careful study of employee benefits packages offered by many corporations -which are generally held to be "conservative" in many ways- in the 1990s shows that they were offering progressively greater benefits to gay couples in order to hire the best people available. While the "dot-com" bubble burst several years ago, this demonstrates a basic truth: that the general American society is at least potentially ready to accept gay/lesbians as full partners in the social circle. It also shows that money-power is not only color-blind, but gender-neutral. But what else would you expect from a currency which prominently features men in pigtails?...

Point being that -I believe- gay/lesbians will achieve full political, social, and economic participation in American life in less than a generation. I'll even say the "tip over" point will be reached by 2020.

What can injure the advancement of gay/lesbian rights is the dogmatic, doctrinaire insistence of "freedom, NOW," by either the GLBT extremists, or the fringe elements of the modern "left." And, while I make it a point to strenuously avoid civil rights/gay rights analogies, it must be pointed out that extremist abolitionist groups in the North generally tended to reinforce Southern resistance to emancipation, not reduce it. Which influences tended to force, well, a solution of force instead of compromise.

Food for thought....