Last night the Democrats held another debate, this time hosted by the Gay and Lesbian constituency. Only two candidates (and the most minor ones --Kucinich and Gravel---) would go on record in support of actual MARRIAGE! Civil unions are the half-steps that wedge themselves into the genreral public's acceptance (and barely).
As a college teacher I know that this issue will be completely off the radar in twenty years (that does seem like an eternity to some). Last semester, I took 38 freshmen through a comp 101 course at Northeastern and throughout the four months our focus was on race and gender. The last assignment was on any contemporary issue of injustice or inequality, based on parallels to MLKing's passionate and brilliant "Letter From Birmingham Jail."
As far as I could tell, most of the students were straight (one young man was "out"). But twenty per cent of the entire 38 wrote papers on injustice and sexual orientation. This generation doesn't have the baggage of their parents. Once this generation of 19 year olds reaches close to forty-something and has a voice in the political cacophony, no political candidate will have to pander to the fear vote.
Massachuetts won't be alone out there forever.
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