A Gay Patriot reader argues against the recent moves of the California legislature regarding gay marriage.
So the short-term gain by Leno may set back long-term gay rights for years to come. What Leno and others failed to realize is that the public opinion is shifting, but not enough time has passed for opinions to become more favorably settled. The timing could not have been worse nor the provincialism more obvious. To paraphrase: One small step forward, one giant step backward. Thanks Leno.
He feels that the move has undermined the momentum behind the push for gay marriage because he feels that Californians still don't support gay marriage. He is quite possibly entirely correct. It may have been a bad strategic move.
But he is also very, very, wrong. It is also suspicious that he places so much fault directly on openly gay State Representative Mark Leno's shoulders. It took a lot of Democrats to get that bill through. His arguments sounds a bit like blaming the victim of prejudice for the prejudice itself. It's a very closeted and ashamed way of thinking. Not for a gay man, but for an American.
However, as I said, he may be right, from a strategic point of view. But this isn't just a political struggle, it's a moral one. I know that the term "moral" leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many gays and lesbians. That's because so often we are described by our detractors as "immoral". However it's still the truth. This is a moral struggle. It's not really about "civil unions". When the religious bigots claim that we want "civil unions" as a stepping stone to full marriage, they are correct. This is really about marriage, the full kit and caboodle.
