Gay Rights Movement

Gay Marriage Finally National: The Advancement Of Human Rights Reaches A New Pinnacle Of Social Justice!

Ronald 17 Comments

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay restaurant and nightclub in Greenwich Village in New York City, was raided by police, leading to a large scale riot. It was the beginning of the gay rights movement, the struggle against oppression.

46 years have passed, and on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the right of gays and lesbians to marry everywhere in the United States, a path breaking advancement in human rights, reaching a new pinnacle of social justice. It makes America a more perfect democracy, promoting equality and liberty for another class of citizens who have faced oppression. It is a tremendous expansion of human rights and social justice!

America is a better nation for this fantastic development, and much credit is due to several people, including:

Then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was the first chief executive to promote gay marriage in California, and officiate at many gay weddings n 2003. He is now Lieutenant Governor of California, and likely successor to Governor Jerry Brown in the next gubernatorial election in 2018.

Ted Olson and David Boies, opposing attorneys in the Bush-Gore Presidential battle in 2000, who pursued the constitutional case promoting gay marriage, helping to lead it to Supreme Court decision yesterday.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in four crucial Supreme Court cases, in 2003 (Lawrence V Texas), two in 2013 (Hollingsworth V Perry) and (US V Windsor), and yesterday (Obergefell V Hodges) Without him, none of this advancement of gay rights and gay marriage could ever have occurred. Interestingly, all four of these cases were decided on June 26, of those years, 2003, 2013, and 2015!

The history of the gay rights movement is yet to be written, but it will be seen as part of the great movement forward as evidenced by the abolitionist crusade against slavery; the woman suffrage movement; the civil rights movement; the labor union movement; the environmental movement; the disability reform movement; the promotion of a safety net as represented by Social Security, Medicare, and now ObamaCare; and the immigration reform movement!

June 28, 1969-June 28, 2013—Gay Rights From The Stonewall Riots To Marriages In California!

Ronald 8 Comments

It is exactly 44 years since the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, leading to the Stonewall Riots, often seen as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

And today, exactly 44 years to the day, and as I write this, the first gay marriages in California, our most populated state, are being performed since the Supreme Court decision this week overturning Proposition 8, which stopped gay marriages in California after they had taken place for a few years, going back to then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom marrying the first gay couples in 2004.

There is still great opposition to gay marriage among Catholic leaders, evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and many Muslim groups, but with 13 states allowing it, the trend is toward eventual acceptance legally in the other states, probably by a future Supreme Court decision, similar to Loving V. Virginia, which made it mandatory that all states accept interracial marriage in 1967.

This is not a question of whether one agrees with gay marriage, but rather a question of tolerance, open mindedness and acceptance of the right of two adults to marry whom they choose. Hatred and condemnation is unhealthy and poisonous, and it will not succeed in prevention of the promotion of human rights!

The gay marriage movement will not be stopped by anyone, but will be looked upon in future years as something that should NEVER have been so bitterly opposed, and those who oppose what has happened will be condemned in history as hate mongers, as much as those who promoted slavery, racial segregation, subjugation of women, nativism against immigrant groups, and anti labor actions against the workers of America!

Momentous Turning Point In Gay Rights Movement: Jason Collins The New “Jackie Robinson”!

Ronald 8 Comments

With the revelation today that Jason Collins, a black basketball player with the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, has come out as gay, is a major turning point in the gay rights movement in America!

Organized sports has always been seen as the last place we would see any such revelations, but with young people, by massive margins as high as 74 percent, having no problem with gays and lesbians, and believing they should be treated equally with straight people, this will be the beginning of other athletes showing the courage and principles of Jason Collins.

Jackie Robinson was a transformational figure, and this issue of sexuality is even more difficult to deal with, but Jason Collins has become a pioneer for his race and for athletes, and no matter what attacks he must bear, and the prejudice and hatred he will have to deal with, particularly from so called “religious” people, he will triumph and hold his head high, and will give young people struggling with sexuality better able to deal with it, and to accept what they are, rather than fight their natural feelings.

There is nothing worse than living a lie, and allowing so called “religious” people to make one feel guilt about his or her feelings, but the gay rights movement will continue to move toward total triumph and acceptance by all but the hate mongers!