GAY MARRIAGE….The Massachusetts legislature has overwhelmingly voted down a constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage. From the New York Times:
Wednesday’s 157-to-39 vote by a joint session of the House and Senate partly reflected the fact that some legislators now consider same-sex marriage more politically acceptable, after a largely conflict-free year in which some 6,600 same-sex couples got married and lawmakers who supported it got re-elected.
….Saying he had heard from over 7,000 constituents, most against the amendment, [Sentor Brian] Lees added, “Gay marriage has begun and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry who could not before.”
Politicians here credit the weddings themselves with shifting the political momentum, saying their growing ordinariness has defused some of the opposition.
“The difference is that we have marriage,” said state Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios (D) after the vote, while other supporters screamed and cheered nearby in a rally under a mural of the Boston Tea Party. “We’ve got a world that hasn’t changed.”
….The differences were noticed by politicians, who say they started getting more letters in favor of the marriages, and by public-opinion pollsters, who noted in March that 56 percent of state residents believed same-sex marriages should be allowed.
This is the beginning of the end for gay marriage opponents. As gay marriage becomes more common ? both in the United States and in other countries ? and absolutely nothing happens except that more people than ever can show off wedding scrapbooks with pictures of beaming partners and guests having a blast, opposition will slowly but surely melt away. The homophobes are banking everything on the proposition that same-sex marriage will lead to moral degeneracy and the breakdown of society, and when that doesn’t happen they’ll have nothing left.
