A landmark date in civil rights history... times two?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the historic Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court decision which ordered desegregation in America's schools. While it was not the first event in the black civil rights' movement, it is generally considered the spur to the agitation that eventually brought down state-enforced segregation. Though it didn't happen overnight and there was a huge resistance to equal rights, states were eventually forced to respect the US Constitution's equal protection clause and to honor the Declaration of Independence's promise that "all men are created equal."

In another important civil rights' event, Massachussetts today became the first state in the nation to allow gays to get married. There is plenty of opposition.

A lot of people will act like gay marriage will cause the collapse of western civilization. Many will oppose it or be uncomfortable with it just because it doesn't feel right in their gut, though they won't be able to explain why.

I suspect it's a matter of time before some governor stands on the steps of the statehouse and declares, "Straights-only marriage today. Straights-only marriage tommorrow. Straights-only marriage forever." To that end, President Bush himself has already said, "I called on the Congress to pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and a woman as husband and wife."

But gay marriage will eventually become accepted, in the same way interracial marriage eventually became accepted. Maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen..

It may happen with a different name. The government might come to its senses and get out of the marriage business altogether, as it should, and give everyone civil unions. But gays will get equal rights eventually. Bigotry always collapses under the weight of its own irrationality. Not always quickly and not always obviously, but it will happen.

One can only hope that on May 17, 2054, Americans will be celebrating the anniversary of TWO landmark dates in civil rights' history.