Proposition 8, California

You have probably heard that Proposition 8 - a ban on same-sex marriage which eliminates California's newly declared right of same-sex couple to marry - will probably pass in California. It hasn't been certified yet, and some votes have yet to be counted, but it will probably pass. Some groups that are reliable Democratic voters are still on the other side of this particular issue. So, in the midst of celebration, some folks who would otherwise be elated are feeling rather mournful.

I tend to write very little about same-sex marriage. I'm not sure if I've ever written about it before at all, actually. But there's a reason for that: I have absolutely no worries about the subject whatsoever. Same-sex marriage is an inevitability. Guaranteed.

If not this year, next year. Or the year after that. But it's inevitable. Gay people will NOT go back into the closet. Within a few years, same-sex marriage will be the law in the West and the Northeast. And then the rest of the states, one at a time, in fairly rapid succession.

Economic issues swing back and forth like a pendulum. But - as long as we have a democracy - civil rights issues can go in one direction only - forward. Same-sex civil rights is a rather large change, and progress has been EXTREMELY rapid. Yes, I understand that for people on the other side of the line who are still waiting to be acknowledged as legitimate it hasn't been rapid enough. But by the normal standards of such things, it's been VERY fast. Most members of the younger generation don't even UNDERSTAND homophobia - its a closed book to them. And those young people will just get older, and soon run society.

Proposition 8 was one step backwards. It may actually be ovetturned by a court anyway, but even if it isn't, it will still be succeeded by two steps forward. Guaranteed.

Patience. It's coming. And it can't be stopped.