It’s clear that our generation’s most pressing civil rights issue is gay rights, and the passing of Prop 8 was a bitter pill for many voters.

Dan Savage, bitter but optimistic, said that the 2008 election was a victory for gay rights because each state’s bill passed by a smaller margin. I’m confident that Millennials will see equal rights for gay couples in their lifetime, for it is mainly older generations that are deeply rooted in their way of life and unwelcome to change.

It’s a question of outlasting the bigots, but even though the “will of the people” spoke last November against the enfranchisement of gay marriage, does not mean it is right — or constitutional.

The “Gaystapo,” as Colbert calls it, marched yesterday in San Francisco because they see a clear goal and they are fighting for it. Today the California Supreme Court begins hearing arguments to overturn the constitutional ban on gay marriage, and it’s interesting to see how history may repeat itself.

Back to California 1966.

The court overturned a hotly contested voter-approved measure that had allowed housing discrimination based on race. Similarly today, the attorney general is challenging a constitutional amendment approved by voters.

“If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house,” campaign spokesman Ronald Reagan declared, “he has a right to do so.”

The nation’s collective memory is remarkably short. Read more about the parallelism here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008815061_propeightlegal05.html

It takes courageous politicians and the strong, unified voice of unsatisfied voters to generate change. They’re marching today to be heard, but there are so many different ways to be engaged. Let’s start the conversation.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Prop. 8 Sponsors Seek To Nullify 18,000 Gay Marriages (huffingtonpost.com)
• Prop 8 Hearing Preview (mydd.com)