The Book of Love– The Magnetic Fields
2004 was devastating. It wasn’t enough that Kerry lost. It’s that he lost in part because a series of anti-gay amendments helped turn out the far right vote. It really shook my faith in things. I was still sure that equality would win in the long run, but ‘long’ suddenly felt desperately far away.
So now it’s 2012.
– The Democratic president, who officially endorsed gay marriage earlier this year, just won a fairly conclusive victory. During his first term, he finally made it possible for gays to serve openly in the military and refused to support DOMA in Court. Not only did his pro-gay stance not hurt him, it actually probably helped. The Republican candidate desperately tried to avoid social issues at all, because he knew it would make him and his party look crazy.
– Tammy Baldwin was just elected as the first openly gay Senator. It wasn’t even an issue in her campaign. The House will have six queer members.
– Three states just voted to permit same-sex marriage. Another state shot down a marriage equality ban. After 32 consecutive losses trying to secure basic rights at the ballot box, we swept the tables last night. And while there will surely be other losses down the road, the firewall has been broken. And it will only be easier to vote in favor of equality the next time.
– Gay marriage was already legal in Iowa, but the results last night ensured that right won’t be rescinded.
– The Supreme Court is set to hear a case about DOMA soon, and I’m not completely terrified of what they might say.
– The Republican Party is facing the looming reality that they are not just on the wrong side of history, but are on the wrong side of an ever-growing electoral reality. Even they aren’t dumb enough to keep this up forever. And, if you’ll forgive the pun, once some prominent GOP leaders remove their fingers from the dike, the whole thing is going to burst.
A personal anecdote:
I grew up in a pretty conservative place: Island County, Washington. It’s the home of the Whidbey Naval Base, with all the politics that you’d expect from that. I did not know a single openly gay person the whole time I lived there. In elementary school, kids played ‘Smear the Queer’ for fun. And last night, Island County voted to affirm marriage equality.
It may be the proudest I’ve ever been of my hometown.