Tag Archives: Gay

Nearly 10 years ago Massachusetts became the first state to legalize “gay marriage”. At the time only The Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Canada had a similar law (source).  Massachusetts was ridiculed and derided and while it gave many in the LGBT community a sense of pride and hope, we all felt terrible when after a brief window of opportunity in California, Prop 8 passed (source).

One could argue it was that demoralizing vote back in 2008 that made marriage equality the social justice and civil rights issue of our day.  Lines were drawn and sides were taken and ever since that day, opponents of marriage equality have watched those lines continually be redrawn as more Americans (and now a majority) support the right to marry who you love.

However, back in 2008 and certainly in the years that followed, one could never imagine that the support of such a hateful law could come back to cause one to lose their job, but that is what happened today when Mozilla’s CEO, Brendan Eich, was forced to step down after employees of that firm drew attention to political contributions Eich made in 2008 opposing same-sex marriage.

The Washington Post has more about it here.

As the nation gets more accustomed to referring to “gay marriage” and “same sex marriage” by it’s proper name, marriage equality, those barely concealed homophobic laws enacted in the first decade of the 21st century banning gays and lesbians from marrying, seem to be falling faster than ‘Born Agains’ at a baptism. Erik Eckholm from The NY Times wrote an excellent piece this past weekend, Wave of Appeals Expected to Turn the Tide on Same-Sex Marriage Bans, that is worth reading.

Eckholm writes, “Legal experts say the country is entering what one called a “marriage spring” and predict that several of the circuit courts, which hold sway over a group of states, will rule that state laws limiting marriage to a man and a woman are unconstitutional.”

Give the article a read if you missed it and are interested in this sort of thing. It is brief and very easy to follow. You can read it here.

Last week ABC News and The Washington Post released findings from a marriage equality poll. The findings show that support for marriage equality is at an all time high with 59% of those surveyed indicating their support; up from just 32% in 2004 when Massachusetts first legalized same-sex marriage.  

More interestingly those opposing marriage equality has dropped by 13% in the past two years. The poll also found that 81% of respondents oppose allowing businesses to refuse service to gays and lesbians.  You can see the results of the poll’s 8 question survey here.