Tuesday, November 5, 2013

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

      This column has spotted a trend.  We're not the first, of course, just happy latecomers.  The country is changing on gay rights.

     For evidence, take the headline in today's Washington Post: "Gay rights bill spotlights a shift."  The story:  fifty-four Democrats and seven Republicans voted to take up the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.  The Post says it's been seventeen years since the Senate voted on the issue and the sixty-plus votes means the bill will probably pass.  It almost certainly won't in the House, which is led by Republican social conservatives, but we're talking trends here.

     Fourteen states have legalized same-sex marriage.  Polls show Americans agree same-sex couples should have the right to marry.    

      And in Maine, Representative Mike Michaud, a Democratic candidate for governor, has announced he's gay.  "They want people to question whether I am gay," Michaud said. "Yes, I am. But why should it matter?"

     Increasingly, Americans seem to be asking themselves the same question and coming up with the same answer.

 

 

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