The other day, my mayor, Michael Bloomberg, gave a stunningly good speech in support of marriage equality. For more on that speech, see I cannot tell my niece that the government is correct which was posted by clarknt67.
One of the things Bloomberg said is that history has not been kind to the people who oppose the march of freedom in America. Indeed not.
I decided I would expand a little on this. I'd like to ask the opponents of GLBT rights some questions:
Do you remember Theodore Bilbo?
Did you know that Mr. Bilbo also built veterans' homes, made school attendance mandatory, built a tuberculosis hospital and banned public hanging as a punishment? Did you know that he fought against corruption? Did you know that he helped (through scurrilous means, but nevertheless.... ) Al Smith win Mississippi and helped pass FDR's new deal? No. Probably not. You remember a bigot.
What about Bilbo's successor as Senator from Mississippi, John Stennis?
Did you know that Stennis wrote the first ethics code for the Senate? Did you know that he was the first Democrat to criticize Joe McCarthy? Did you know he voted against Robert Bork for SCOTUS? Did you know that he eventually changed his views on civil rights quite a bit, to the extent that he campaigned for Mike Espy, who became the first Black congressman from the south since reconstruction?
Probably not. You remember a bigot.
And now, another question.
How do you want history to remember you?
Because you're going to lose. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. The arc of history bends against you; sometimes that arc is slow, but it keeps bending. Kids today look at gay marriage differently than even the liberal adults.
Recently, a kid asked a teacher if he had kids. The teacher said "I've told you I'm gay" and the kid replied "What does that have to do with it?"
And while Stennis is remembered as a bigot, the memories of George Wallace, another more-famous southern bigot, are somewhat different. No mistake that Wallace was a bigot for much of his life and career. He "stood in the schoolhouse door" to prevent integration. He said people who supported integration should be given "barbed wire enemas". But he changed. And he said he was wrong. And that is remembered too.
How will history remember you?