I fully expect that the social right will react just as you predict, claiming that only a popular vote could give gay marriage genuine legitimacy. But the fact of the matter is that there have been multiple popular referendums here in Massachusetts on the issue, in the form of elections to the Legislature. If there were really a hidden swell of opposition, presumably it would have punished the politicians who supported gay marriage, ushering in a new class of legislators dedicated to overturning it. What we've seen is the opposite: anti-gay marriage politicians being voted out en masse in favor of those who support it. The people have spoken, over and over, and the result is one we can all be proud of, a wonderful example of our republic in action.
Another of Sullivan's readers has what I think is a germane comment:
I think you did capture the essence of the truce and what makes the U.S. so great, bar one sentence:
"Given the huge differences between, say, a born-again evangelical in Georgia and a pot-smoking post-boomer in Seattle, no single cultural strait-jacket can ever hold America together."
Change "pot-smoking post-boomer in Seattle" to "pot-smoking post-boomer in Atlanta" and you really capture the U.S. - born-again evangelicals living in the same friggin' city (Atlanta) and working with and shopping with pot-smoking post-boomers. Hell, I was just wished "A blessed day" on the elevator by a complete stranger.
Sullivan goes on to wonder why so many are afraid of equality under the law.
It's really very simple, and for most of us it's a no-brainer. Live and let live. As evidenced by the vote in Massachusetts, and even more so by the trends in polls concerning gay rights, DADT, marriage and the whole complex of related issues, most people in this country are fine with that philosophy. For those who don't follow that creed the very idea is anathema. The problem is, reality is not on their side, which is why we now have the Wildmon Gang and its allies lying about the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. In their eyes, any real liberty, which is to say any way of life that does not conform to their strictures, is pernicious and threatening.
I'm not going to get into the discussion about the somewhat naively optimistic posts in some quarters -- you can follow that one for yourself. Just let me say that, in reference to Benen's comment on the Democrats, I think Paul Waldman at Tapped has a much more accurate analysis: "they've generally been content to keep a step or two behind public opinion, gripped as usual by fear of offending the people who dislike them the most." The Democrats, at least on the national scene, have been pretty much useless, when not downright obstructive, in this fight. (I notice that John Kerry all of a sudden is against the Massachusetts anti-marriage amendment -- now that it's been defeated. If I can find that link, I'll post it.)
That said, the victory in Massachusetts is, indeed, a real victory, and not only for gays: it's a victory for the American system, the one that the Christianists want to destroy. But the war is not over, by any means -- they will be back, and every defeat will just fill their coffers as their rhetoric gets more shrill and their lies more extreme.
But then, we're the ones making history.
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