Nov. 4 election important for gay rights
October 20, 2008 by The Red and Black Archives
Filed under Opinions
In this historic period of our nation’s history, every bit of news seems to be bad news.
As Wall Street continues to drown in a sea of economic turmoil, it can be hard to find something to be happy about.
But last week many Americans rejoiced as a bit of good news surfaced from the flood of bad news.
Last week, the Supreme Court of Connecticut decided in a 4-3 ruling that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
This landmark decision places Connecticut as one of only three states, along with Massachusetts and California, that allow same-sex couples to legally unite in matrimony.
In an eloquent and optimistic statement, the court said state government should make a concerted effort to renovate the legal infrastructure of marriage laws in order to adapt to the evolving ideas of what constitutes a marriage.
The decision came none too soon.
Thousands of celebrants rejoiced in streets across America as our country took another significant leap toward assuring rights for gays.
For too long America’s gay citizens have been cavalierly swept to the margins of society.
Angered by their relegation to second-class citizenship, gay citizens across the country have banded together to fight discriminatory laws. The Connecticut decision is one more step toward the breaking dawn of a new civil rights movement.
The future of this movement depends largely upon the upcoming presidential election.
The success of gay rights advocacy will correlate directly with the selection the American electorate will make in only two weeks.
On the one hand, the lips of Sen. John McCain’s campaign become hermetically sealed whenever gay rights advocacy is broached.
McCain has none-too-subtly indicated that ensuring rights for gay citizens is not a top priority, if one at all, of his political agenda.
Maybe McCain is simply a product of an older, more close-minded generation. Or maybe he is morally bankrupt.
Either way, the American electorate can be sure that a McCain-Sarah Palin administration will do little, if anything, to further the cause of gay rights.
It should be noted as well that Sen. Barack Obama has also shied away from discussing gay rights.
In fact, Obama’s campaign has been heartbreakingly silent when it comes to talking about gay marriage.
But we must remember that openly advocating same-sex marriage would be a poor political move.
We can only hope Obama’s reluctance to discuss gay rights is more of a political strategy than it is an indication of his conviction.
Considering Obama’s liberal stance on nearly every other issue, it would be sensible for gay Americans and their allies to invest hope in an Obama administration to fight for gay rights.
The same cannot be said of McCain.
The next president, whomever he may be, will have a heavy hand in either furthering or obstructing the path to gay rights.
The crux of this weight lies in the expected opportunity to nominate Supreme Court justices.
The Supreme Court will most likely be presented with at least one court case involving the legitimacy of gay marriage in our judicial system. We can only hope that Americans will elect a president who will appoint justices who will make ethical and responsible decisions when faced with such cases.
This is the least we can do for a demographic of citizens who have been dismissed by our government for decades.
- Zach Nikonovich-Kahn is a junior from Atlanta majoring in history.
