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[Ed. Note: Since coming out
in 1970 it has been my mission to open people’s minds to gay people being just
like regular folks except for sexual preference. For some that was (and still
is) a revelation. I accomplish my mission one person at a time hoping that each
opened mind will open others. Personal experience with gay people as ordinary
folks is the most powerful means of enlightenment.]
^^^
For Some, Same-Sex Marriage Is Not Politics, It’s
Personal
by helene cooper and jeremy
w. peters
May 15, 2012
WASHINGTON — Some of their best friends turned out to be gay.
Or a daughter (Dick Cheney).
Or a close pal (Jon
M. Huntsman Jr.). Or a couple seated close by
(the Maryland
lawmaker Wade Kach).
President Obama’s embrace of same-sex marriage rights last week instantly touched off speculation
about the possible political implications, but that misses a more nuanced
point. Like so many other Americans in recent years, politicians are less
influenced by party, faith or color on the question of favoring greater legal
protections for gays, both liberals and conservatives say.
Instead, it’s more personal.
“If you don’t know anyone
who’s gay, then it’s an alien lifestyle,” said Theodore Olson, the former
solicitor general for President George W. Bush who supports same-sex marriage.
But, he added, when “you realize that that’s Mary from down the street, she’s a
lesbian and she’s with Sally, what would it be like if they couldn’t be
together?” people come around.
During the civil rights
movement, many white Northerners — including some who had never before
interacted with black people — joined African-Americans to fight for the
principle of equal rights, often opposing white Southerners who had lived among
blacks all their lives yet saw nothing wrong with the separate but equal
statutes. Principle seemed to come before the personal in many cases.
With the gay rights movement,
it often seems that the opposite applies. While there are many people who
support gay rights because it is in line with their personal or political
views, for many others, their approach on the issue is experiential, and comes
down to a simple issue: knowing an openly gay couple. In fact, it can seem as
if there are two Americas
when it comes to gay rights: one in which same-sex couples interact regularly
with their straight counterparts, helping to soften impressions of
homosexuality, and another in which being gay or lesbian remains largely
unspoken.
Read full article here:
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