Progress

Hey, it’s been a good few days. The State Supreme Court in Iowa struck down a law prohibiting people from marrying who they want.

And today the legislature in Vermont legalized gay marriage when it overrode the Governor’s veto.

And the D.C. Council voted to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.

This is all excellent news. As Scalzi points out, what will the theocrats who were squawking about “judicial activism” going to do about Vermont’s legislature making it happen, simply because it was the right and fair thing to do? (I tend to think the ‘judicial activism’ rantings are a crock, but that’s another post.)

Columbina writes about what’s in the New England water, noting that Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont allow gay marriage:

This is the land of people whom, for sound historical reasons, stubbornly resist being told what is good and what is evil. They’ll evaluate for themselves, and they will figure it out on their own, and draw their own conclusions. Thank you, but I’ll get it myself.

It is also a part of the country where tradition is very strong, and this works both ways; many of the people who object to same-sex marriage aren’t necessarily being evil, but just have a definition of marriage that they don’t want to see change. They want it the way it always has been. This is the counterweight.

But in general, here, good sense eventually triumphs, especially when those two nice young men living in the house next to you don’t seem to be damaged and they keep their yard in good shape and don’t make too much noise. Live and let live and don’t get in each other’s faces.

Columbina also points to what’s probably the money quote on the whole issue, a young person from Iowa explaining to some old fogies (really, more of a state mind than a chronological age thing): “You guys don’t understand. You’ve already lost. My generation doesn’t care.”

Indeed, the younger generation has much bigger problems to worry about than those nice young men next door planning their wedding. Much bigger. Hopefully these last few days are the beginning of the domino effect some of us have been hoping for and expecting for awhile now.