Well, That Didn't Take Long

Just a day after Joe Biden channeled Bo Diddley, President Obama made the non-surprise announcement that he too supports gay marriage. He reversed the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and his Justice Dept. has refused to enforce the dumbass "Defense Of Marriage" federal law. So we're not exactly shocked.

Maybe Obama didn't want to go there just yet, but the Veep's Meet The Press comments forced the issue. Hey, that's OK. It's the right position, the right thing to do, and the Prez has felt this way all along. Politics is so often seriously sucky, but my cousin Barry finally stood up on this silly "issue", dropped his "evolving" B.S., and just said what he thought. Good man! Some say it will hurt him. I think it'll help, on the hopeful theory that reasonable minds will prevail. (A very dicey theory, to be sure.)

I know many states, Ohio included, legally prohibit gay marriage, but these misguided rules are just a form of modern-day discrimination. Historically, our laws have often been wrong-headed. Racial prejudice and segregation were once codified by law. The same for gender discrimination. If you were non-white, a woman, or God help you, both, you were in the eyes of the law a lesser being -- you could not vote, hold public office, enter certain establishments, or work in certain jobs. (As Orwell put it in Animal Farm, "All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.")

Eventually, those laws were overturned. New laws like Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment, Equal Housing, and Equal Credit Opportunity Acts replaced them.

For quite awhile, sexual orientation flew beneath the radar in the civil rights area. To a degree, the preceding legislation solved some of the problem. But also gays and lesbians were slower to express themselves and claim the same citizenship as everyone else. But now they have, and they insist upon their equal rights and they will continue to do so until our society provides them.

They want to marry, divorce, have children, have joint assets, pay alimony, establish wills and trusts, have family insurance, pay bills, and ride the same friggin' rollercoaster as the rest of us. It is, quite simply, a civil rights issue like so many before. And like before, those rights will inevitably be granted.

There is no good reason not to, and sooner will be better than later. If anyone can tell me how gay/lesbian marriage genuinely harms me or you or society as a whole, if you can justify why it shouldn't be legal, if you can give me anything that doesn't boil down to your own pathetic fear and prejudice, you let me know. I'm all ears. Anybody???