Marriage equality has proven benefits for everyone. Since May 17, 2004, gay marriage has been legal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Over 15,000 gay couples have been married to date. Churches that were founded by the Pilgrim Fathers in the 1600s post “everyone welcome” signs with rainbow insignia. AND, the unanticipated dividends have benefitted everyone: When Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, even he stated publically that he was happy to attend weddings for his gay staff members. My point is that we owe society the courage to keep pushing back this bastion of prejudice and loathing. Thanks to MassEquality, the action committee that fought for our rights here – and now empowers other states that have passed open marriage laws, we have matured from protesters to main-stream members of a greater society. I have seen construction workers wave a “thumbs up” to high school jocks walking arm in arm down streets that used to be considered dangerous. Every high school has a gay-straight alliance – meeting times were posted conspicuously near the front entrance at Boston College High School – the most prestigious Catholic school in the country. A contingent of gay police and fire fighters marched in the last Boston Gay Pride Parade. The event has become a special time for gay and straight families to mingle – so much so that over 1 million marched and cheered in a town of 600,000. Freedom is infectious. We’ve had NO hate crimes for the past two years and we just passed anti-bullying legislation that has explicitly added trans-gendered people to every public statement of equality. Laws do not stop bulling until inclusiveness becomes embedded in the way people think. A terrible pedophile priest scandal has been assimilated to benefit everyone who is vulnerable – the distinction between gay and pedophile is not an issue. If you care about your country, there is no greater gift that you can bestow than lifting the disgrace of mean spirited and unwarranted discrimination. Everyone benefits, even those pols that are opposed politically need your help to create a better world for all of us.

Thanks for the encouraging post. From what I’ve been able to uncover over the years, this streak of nastiness and bitchyness towards other gay people has a long sad history. When I was a very young gay man I was always puzzled and ashamed by this propensity especially as exhibited by gay men towards lesbians. Let’s just say that in the late 1970′s gay men made little room for gay women and yet it was the lesbians that were the first to stand up and try to help when what became known as AIDS first hit; organizing blood drives, food pantries, etc. I lived in San Francisco at the time and I remember this outpouring of love towards gay men despite how they’d been generally treated by us. This was a true example of a community coming together to save its own members despite past differences. I’ve never forgotten this lesson in Love. Sadly, people forget or never bother to learn their own history and I often here or see written on various sites attacks against our sisters in this gay community we’ve formed often due to early rejection by family and school mates. We, of all people, should know better.