I have a gay co-worker who believed that after the 2004 election, he was a marked man. Chalk it up to a close race and disappointing results for his column, but he was genuinely scared for himself and all gays everywhere.
I have no fears for gays. If you compare the current state of gay-rights affairs with American history, this is 1962. Back then, it was a few months before Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, the religious right is working hard and fast because it realizes that time is not on their side. Older Americans with a distaste for gay rights are growing older and dying off while younger and more tolerant Americans, who have lived with the notion of gay rights, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Tom Cruise/Ricky Martin/Ellen Degeneres/Al Franken are no longer shocked by the sex lives of their fellow Americans. The Christian Right fully recognizes that the party is almost over.
Case in point: I read a workbook to my daughter during Black History Month about Rosa Parks. When I read the passage that black people weren't allowed to sit next to whites, Nora's face crinkled in disbelief. It made no sense to her at all.
In 10 years, the anti-gay rights foes will be geezers in their wheelchairs complaining about the air conditioning and the loud music in the nursing home. Trust me on this.
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