Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
Having lived in a state like Virginia, I'm used to accepting the scraps for gay rights and saying, 'thank you very much.'
Imagine my surprise upon see ing the headline in the New York Times that New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, has come out in favor of gay marriage.
According to the article, he said, "“We will not ask whether this proposition of legalizing same-sex marriage is popular or unpopular; we will not ask if it’s hard or easy; we will simply ask if it’s right or wrong."
Wow!
This seems like such an obvious stance to take. It is a values stance to run on what is morally right and this is a simple matter of civil rights, which our country says it embraces.
I hope that other politicians who are running for office this year and, more importantly, for President in 2008, will take a page from Mr. Spitzer's book.
How refreshing it would be for the "fair-minded Americans," as several leaders in the GLBT movement have termed the gay community and its straight allies, to have a choice to embrace a person who says he supports the gay community and takes a stance which declares our life-long commitments to be as worthy as any other, rather than have to settle for a politician who says he or she supports the gay community, but then votes against us on such a simple issue of respect and civil rights.
Our voices will be what make the difference so be sure to vote this fall and to encourage your family members to vote on the matters which mean a lot to you.
If you'd like more information, I recommend you check out the HRC web site to learn more about work that needs to be done and how marriage issues are progressing on the national and local stages here in the US.