Gay equality battle must be waged until victory

Not too long from now our society will look back on the same-sex marriage debate and laugh nervously about the idiocy and hypocrisy of this moment.

We’ll tell our children and grandchildren that we got to witness these historic events firsthand.

We’ll tell them we got to vote in the elections that granted equal rights, that we got to wave our rainbow flags and protest.

Hopefully those who protest same-sex marriage today will think back and be embarrassed by their ignorance and intolerance ““ much the same way people who advocated for racially segregated schools, restrooms, train cars and drinking fountains should now be embarrassed.

We don’t want to compare the civil rights struggle of the 1960s to same-sex marriage too much ““ we know the issues faced by the respective communities are different ““ but we do want to emphasize that there have been many similar struggles throughout history.

Asian Americans have faced discriminatory labor practices and immigration policies, women were denied the right to vote and own property, and Catholics were openly discriminated against ““ as were the Irish, Italians, Poles and virtually every other group or classification you can think of.

It seems like every generation has a civil rights struggle, and it seems like the conservatives in society oppose it at nearly every turn.

But that doesn’t matter, because year after year and decade after decade we grow more accepting and socially liberal.

The entire political spectrum shifts with time, and eventually opponents of same-sex marriage will be outliers we can safely ignore instead of a large chunk of our population.

And it should happen in our lifetimes.

The progress to date has been incredible. It’s just unfortunate that California has fallen so far behind.

It’s also unfortunate that we need to fight for our right to marry whomever we want, but it’s not surprising. After all, that fight is necessary.

The recent California Supreme Court decision to uphold Proposition 8 is just one more obstacle we have to overcome, both as a society and as a civil rights movement.

Though we are certain of our eventual victory, we cannot stop fighting.

Though we expect we will one day prevail, we cannot put down the rainbow flag and leave the rest up to chance and history.

We cannot and will not be defeated, shamed or stopped.

The one thing we don’t want to do is to discount the validity of our democracy, question the core principles of our political process or blame “the system.”

The will of the voters in California has to be upheld and cannot be overturned or overwritten by our courts or our legislature. Those bodies are there to serve the will and needs of the voters, and they are not the problem. The democratic process is sound; it’s just the results that are frustrating.

The gay rights movement still has work to do in order to win over the hearts and minds of the people of California and the nation as a whole.

That work should continue, now especially, because the movement has the attention and exposure to reach more people than ever.

In the meantime, we encourage more protests, more marches and even a bit of civil disobedience to move forward and gain more traction.

Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board.

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