When Are We Ever Ready?
An editorial excerpt from the Yankton [SD] Press & Dakotan:
No matter the outcome of this particular issue at this time, there is a gnawing little feeling about how future generations will look back on this matter. A century from now, will people look back on this issue the same way people now look on, for instance, how the concept of interracial marriage was viewed 150 years ago?
On the other hand, the fact that we have such heated debate over the matter also brings into question whether our society as a whole is ready for such relationships.
It would seem that the Yankton Press is aiming for balanced opinion in this piece, but bases it on a faulty view of history.
One could ask even about views on interracial marriage as little as 30 years ago, since Loving v. Virginia was only decided in 1967, easily within living memory for many of us. As I've mentioned before, even when I was in graduate school (c. 1980), students on campus were discussing the "appropriateness" of interracial dating. It seemed incredible to me then, and even more incredible now. Somehow, taking the right course on interracial marriage caused the objections of society to fade so quickly that it seems like something that happened long, long ago.
The heated "debates" now over marriage equality for gay people reflect only poorly on whether society will be ready, or when. History shows that society will never be ready, but that society will adjust to changes for the better.
Interracial marriage is but one example. Integrating the military is another. Integrating schools in the south. All of these seem so normal now that they barely deserve comment, but at one time they were controversial. Was society every ready?
There is no transitional phase here, no "partial gay marriage" that will serve to ease society into a new era of greater liberty either. Domestic partnership is not training-wheels for marriage equality, it's a side show. Remember this: Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell was hailed as a brilliant compromise that would help the military transition, but it has failed horribly, being neither transitional nor a brilliant compromise.
What would it take for society to be ready to do the right thing? The best suggestion appears to be that we should go ahead and do the right thing, and then society will adjust. Sure enough, in 2027 or so, we'll have forgotten what the fuss was all about, and reactionaries will have thought of a new outrage to "mobilize their base".