Massuchesetts is the first state to have legalized same-sex marriage. It has been a constant controversy in the state since the right continuously brings it up to get it repealed. There is much debate on both sides of the issue, but the main thing is the fervor of the right to stem the tide of its evolution.
Many of the legislators previously in favor of the amendment switched their votes over the course of time to oppose it. It speaks to the passage of time as the healer of all wounds by giving people the experiences necessary to live with change. Change is the most fearful thing for human beings.
One of the legislators in Massachusetts, Representative Gale Candaras, made a statement to her supporters explaining her switch after the vote. Though it speaks much to her own process of coming to terms with accepting the inevitable, it actually points to the shift in the population's thinking. Rather that objectifying those that they fear, people are beginning to look at others as humans with the possibility that we are all one, together, in deference to our differences.
Here is the money quote from Rep. Candaras' statement that emphasizes this monumental change:
“I know from listening to my constituents, since I first became Senator this year that this vote, the vote I take today, is the right vote for the people I serve. I have been most impressed by the number of individuals who have called me and asked me to change my vote because they have changed their minds. One grandmother told me she had changed her mind and wanted me to change my vote in case one of her grandchildren grew up to be gay or lesbian. She did not want any of her grandchildren to be denied the right to marry the person they love. This is exactly the legacy we will leave to generations beyond us, and the example we can set for the nation and, I daresay the world, which is certainly paying attention to what we do and say here today. The Boston Globe, June 15, 2007
there is no one asking for anything special, in spite of what the right-wingnuts say, only the guarantee of being treated just like everyone else...
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