Just One Second
Yesterday’s elections.
What is there to say? I think Dem losses resulted from a variety of factors. Weak candidates, fatigue, in some cases, a miscalculation of how to leverage the Obama brand. They ran as candidates, when given economic anxiety the emphasis should have been on communities, on engaging folks on the local level. I don’t think the wins and losses amount to much, what’s learned from them is more important.
What does hurt, is the passage of Proposition 1 in Maine, effectively putting an end to a brief, but profound, reign of tolerance where all were treated equally under the law.
Andrew Sullivan notes why the strategy was effective. It ain’t pretty.
“They have honed it to an art - their prime argument now is that although adults can handle gay equality, children cannot.”
From my view, what children really can’t handle is a society that perpetuates the notion that are differences are not only something to be feared but something to be legislated. Andrew’s right, this is how they won, and it’s the most offensive part of the gay marriage debate. The Right has co-opted a rationale that emphasizes “future generations” and “protecting our children” when those very same kids are the ones most tolerant about this issue. If you talk to kids in highschool and college, they will be the first to insist that who one loves shouldn’t matter.
Somehow, this undeniable dynamic, has been lost. Instead, youth and innocence are used as ammunition. I’m pissed, and hurt, but I’m also inspired. They can’t keep talking for us, they can’t keep using youth as a justification for ignorance.
We don’t need to be protected from gay marriage, young kids don’t need to be protected from gay marriage– they need to be taught that in this country, we hold some things to be self-evident. Without question. Happiness, liberty, life- the ability to simply pursue those things, requires protection. The kids will be alright when gay marriage passes. In the interim, I ask those who are opposed to think about the kind of example their setting, the message they’re sending, suggesting otherwise.