Turning Tide
This is the way homophobia ends Not with a bang but a whimper.
It was just 14 short years ago that Vermont allowed civil unions. It was the first state to do anything of the sort, and it was groundbreaking. It wasn’t too long before the word “marriage” began replacing “civil unions”. Not unsurprisingly, none of this has led to a breakdown in traditional marriage. In 2013, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional mid-90s federal meddling through the “Defense of Marriage Act”, leading to civil rights lawsuits throughout the country to allow same sex couples to marry.
This has all happened, and public sentiment about same sex marriage has changed, much more quickly than anyone could have anticipated 14 years ago. Good job, America.
Bill Ayers made the same point last night during his talk at Burning Books.
This ends homophobia the same way the Civil Rights Act(s) ended racism
It doesn’t matter that it won’t end homophobia. All that matters is that people have equal rights under the law. If some bigot has a problem with that, too bad.
Maybe what he is trying to say is bigots often beget bigots. Laws while being a good start, do not change minds overnight. Changing hearts is a long hard slog.