February 15, 2004
Gay Marriage Shocks The Diehards
When Are The American People Going To Wake Up?
By Fred H. Arm
Hats off to Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco’s and the State of Massachusetts. Cries of joy and exhilaration reverberate through County Clerk’s Offices as the Gay Community rushes to the alter to “tie the knot”. However, the recent allowance of Gay Marriages has created a firestorm of opposition by small-minded fundamentalists. When are they ever going to wake up? With every chapter of evolution in basic human rights and equality, the roar of the right-wing lunatics pollutes the airways with their juvenile clinging to outdated principles and religious dogma.
These unenlightened multitudes have forgotten many of the milestones in human rights progress that we have achieved over the years. When women were given the right to vote in the early twentieth century, the same intolerant crowd howled in opposition until ultimately women’s suffrage became commonplace. Not too long ago it was a felony here in California to have oral sex, adultery, and or sodomy with any other person, whether or not you were married. The court’s and the legislature struck down the statutes since these so-called sex crimes were commonplace regardless of sexual orientation. It is worthy to note that these arcane laws were most often enforced against homosexual men as a form of harassment.
Prior to 1954, it was legal to segregate schools by restricting minorities from attendance, entering certain business establishments, or living in certain neighborhoods. I recall a sign in the window of a Café in San Antonio in 1955 that said, “No Niggers, Dogs or Jews allowed”. I doubt that anyone questions these rights anymore. We simply take these basic rights for granted since our Constitution guarantees all citizens equal rights.
So why all the uproar by the looney toons of America? (The President of the United States included) I imagine that the same buffoons also complained bitterly in the past when other basic human rights were established. It seems they cannot stand to have anyone other than their own kind (whatever “kind” that is) enjoy the basic freedoms of life. It is unfortunate that so many people have to endure their cries and insults while society adjusts itself by formerly conveying these rights to those small minorities who ostensibly always had these rights in the first place under our Constitution. Enough already! Take your small-minded, bigoted mentality and put it where the sun doesn’t shine—and get a life!