The Continuing Fight For Equality

Currently gay marriage is only legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut, while 30 states have an outright ban on it. Gay activists have been adamant in their appeals to lawmakers in New Jersey, New York, and Vermont to take up bills that would legalize same-sex marriage. This past Thursday same-sex couples seeking only the right to marry showed up at marriage license conter nationwide to shine a light on discrimination still taking place in the United States. This annual act of protest, is part of the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Day, and took on an extra sense of importance after the passing of Proposition 8. Gay Activists feel an extra sense of determination, regret and also renewed hope after what happened with the proposition. The passing of Proposition 8 has also helped push the continuing fight for equal rights back into the spotlight. "A lot of people feel a sense of determination and regret over having been too complacent or quiet before, so there is a commitment to, `Never again, we have to take action,'" said Evan Wolfson, a civil rights lawyer who conceived Freedom to Marry Day.

After reading this article I feel happy and a sense of optimism about where equal rights for gay and lesbian rights are heading. It is unfortunate that we still need to vote on laws for who can and cannot get married. I thought, as a nation, we would get past these types of petty differences and did not have horrible laws like this, which makes my skin crawl thinking about it, and how it was the law even when my mother and father were growing up through the baby boom generation. Hopefully one day we can look back at the gay marriage fight and think of it as just as big a mistake as those laws.