Here we go with the mad retreat from the heady days of mid-February, when it seemed that gay marriage was coming to a judge's chambers in every town in America.
"We're sorry we pushed, master. Please don't beat us." You know what? Nuh-uh. It is hard to call gay marriage a flaming agenda item of the queer fifth column when The Economist comes out four-square in support of the idea. (It's a subscription only link, but I would recommend ponying up for it or checking out the print edition: Feb. 28, 2005.)
I am not activist, and I believe much of what HRC et al. stand for does amount to 'special' rather than equal rights. But I am willing, as an out gay man who enjoys his lifestyle and its attendant liberties, to give full props to the crazy drag queens who were lobbing bricks and parking meters at New York City cops in late June, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn. How did America feel about them? I would reckon the populace was a whole hell of a lot more antipathetic toward the mere presence of gay men and lesbians then than they are toward the idea of same-sex marriage now.
To paraphrase a now famous epigram, freedom is never handed over voluntarily; it must be siezed.
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