Last edited: November 23, 2003


It Can’t Be Stopped

Providence Phoenix.com, July 11—17, 2003
http://www.providencephoenix.com/features/p_and_j/documents/03013176.asp

Phillipe and Jorge’s Cool, Cool World

Your superior correspondents were thinking last week, what if the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, never happened? Maintaining that “ separate but equal “ was un-American (not to mention bullshit) breathed life into a slowly building civil rights movement, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott and finally exploding in the early ‘60s with demands for justice. We still have a ways to go, but those among us who remember legal segregation have a strong sense of how much has been accomplished.

Now comes a Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws as unconstitutional. For Superior Nation, this could well be our Brown v. Board of Education. Antonin Scalia certainly understands this or why else would he write such a reactionary and ill-advised dissent, railing about the “ homosexual agenda “ (which, if the phrase means anything, merely amounts to equal rights for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation).

Meanwhile, in the Great White North, our Canadian neighbors seem to have clearly seen the light and are moving ahead with legalized gay marriage. Equality and fairness is on the way in North America, and as any student of history will tell you, it will not be stopped. Bill Frist and his right-wing cohorts, clamoring for a Constitutional amendment to narrowly define marriage, are doomed to be on the losing end of this one. We always thought that the only kind of Constitutional amendment worth considering is one that expands the definition of freedom.

Although we live in a time when fear seems to be ascendant, fear is ultimately a loser. That’s because deep down inside, the people of the United States, when forced to choose between playing to our fears and petty biases, or standing up for fairness and equality, will finally take the right path.

Since Stonewall and Harvey Milk, ACT UP and Queer Nation, we’ve been openly talking superior behavior. Hearts and minds have been changed, and people are smartening up. P&J have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly things are moving now. How many people do you know who think that “ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “ makes any sense at all? How many people do you know who think “ The Defense of Marriage Act “ has anything to do with the defense of marriage?

Yes, there’s still a struggle ahead, but the walls are falling and maybe it will only be 10 years from now when all but the most extreme reactionaries among us will wonder how we had these laws and wrongheaded social views about sexual orientation. It’s coming and it can’t be stopped.

[The rest is unrelated. -Bob] 

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