The vote at the State House on June 14 not to put a question about banning same-sex marriage on the Massachusetts ballot was very gratifying.
It is amazing to me that in this day and age we are still arguing about fundamental human rights issues like this. We say that we are the world’s greatest democracy and, in fact, we feel obligated to spread our great democracy around the world, even when it isn’t welcomed by those we want to receive it. So it would have been the ultimate hypocrisy to preach to others about basic human rights, and then seek to legally discriminate against citizens of this country through a vote on people’s personal rights.
It is amazing to think that 60 years after Hitler’s Germany, gay marriage is legal. Here in George Bush’s America, some people in government are spying on our own citizens, trying to rationalize and legalize discrimination, blatantly disregarding the most basic principles of justice and completely ignoring the idea of compassion for their fellow human beings. All this, of course, is being done under the guise of being morally correct with just enough spin to confuse those who can be easily misled.
Oh yes! This is such a great democracy, at least from a good distance, much of the time. This week it appears to be great close up right here in Massachusetts.
Charles Fiore
Jamaica Plain