Protesters chaining themselves to the White House gate today, objecting to what they called the "silent homophobia of those who purport to be our friends and do nothing," capped a tumultuous few days in the fight to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- and the larger fight for equality.
There was the one step forward represented by the leak of a Pentagon study showing that 70 percent of active-duty and reserve troops surveyed thought lifting DADT wouldn't have a negative impact on America's armed forced. Followed by the two steps back of the Supreme Court's order on Friday allowing the ban on openly gay soldiers to remain in effect while the Obama administration fights a federal appeals court ruling that the policy is unconstitutional, and John McCain -- who has said in the past that he'd be open to repealing DADT -- making it clear that, in fact, he wouldn't. Not now. Not yet.
America finds itself at a real turning point in the struggle for gay rights. And, as during all turning points, it's as if we are watching the struggle unfold on a split screen: progress on one side, setbacks on the other.
Joining the Pentagon study on one side of the screen is the fact that, in the elections earlier this month, more openly gay candidates were elected to office than in any other election in our history.
On the other side, right beside McCain and the Supreme Court order, is the fact that three judges on the Iowa Supreme Court, justices Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit, were voted out of office as payback for their 2009 decision recognizing the right of same-sex couples to marry.
On one side, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is urging the lame-duck Congress to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" before the new congress is seated in January.
On the other, General James Amos, the new commandant of the Marine Corps is arguing against repeal, using the old canard, disproved in the armed forces of many of our allies, that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would somehow hurt "combat effectiveness." What does that mean anyway, that gay soldiers can't shoot straight? That straight soldiers can't shoot gay?
As we feel the exhilaration of watching our country make progress, and then feel the despair of watching it lurch back, it's worth remembering that not a single civil-rights milestone in our country has been achieved without a struggle -- and many setbacks.
Our union will never be perfect, but, as the framers wrote in the preamble to the Constitution, it is designed to constantly become more perfect. When they wrote those words, the rights and protections of women and African Americans were not yet recognized.
Then came the Emancipation Proclamation. The 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote. Brown v. the Board of Education. The Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965.
We look back at those achievements now and they seem so natural, so obvious. Indeed, it's hard to imagine the United States without them.
But for the men and women who fought for these achievements, the struggle must have looked a lot like the current split-screen world we're watching.
Today, the forces of regression know that the gay civil rights movement is on the cusp of victory and that once victory is achieved, the next day we will find it hard to imagine that it was ever in question.
Those who oppose equal rights for the LGBT community are not just standing against the right of gays and lesbians to marry the person they love, or to openly serve in the military -- they are standing against the inevitable.
It's inevitable, and an issue that can't be dismissed as belonging to the left or to the right. This was demonstrated by the legal dream team of David Boies and Ted Olson, who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore in 2000 but joined forces to overturn Prop 8 in California -- proving that the issue isn't a question of liberal vs. conservative, but a matter of civil rights.
Of course, just because it's inevitable doesn't mean that it won't take a fight to make it happen. It will. It's the same old fight to make sure that America stays on the path leading to a more perfect union.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, Ph.D.: The Truth Will Make Us Free: A Queer Year in Review
Wayne Besen: Addressing Religion-Based Bigotry
By the way, weren't y'all a little too busy there at the time for romance on combat missions?
It's not a matter of "civil rights". It's a matter of special rights.
Nobody is asked what his/her sexual orientation is when applying for a marriage license.
Yeah, those ideals are demanding. Yeah, I fail to live up to them sometimes. And yeah, I keep on trying.
-- YOU are a sinner, and we can't allow sin (lest WE be tempted)
--- if people start doing as they want, they will leave our rich church, there goes the $$$
--- It is up to us to be the "morality cops of God", and we can't rest til we control you.
AND... the biggest scam:
--- All us mormons are looking forward to sainthood in the afterlife, with all generations of our families together, so we cant let them queers be queer or our family will have gaps in the afterlife
(no sodomites allowed in the deluxe section), and our family will lose face for being incomplete.
Besides, if you want to be a practicing homorosextual, you might not give us your 10%, nor spawn a bunch of mormon kids who could also give us money
Another thing that is lumped in with the repeal of DADT is extended medical insurance benefits for children to age 26 that have military insurance. When the health care reform was passed the ball was dropped. Those with private insurance can keep their kids on their insurance to age 26, but not those with Tricare (the military insurance) When DADT is repealed then my daughters can keep their benefits.
Believe me when I say the repeal of DADT is something my family feels very strongly about.
Faved and Fanned.
It is sickening that we run into barriers that would not be there if we were straight. Depsite what ther haters think, GLBT people are not equal. Not even close.
Freedom?
But over time the old homphobic people died and mores changed as they always have overtime. Truth is the daughter of time. So everyone needs to take heart and remember that in time it will all change for the better!
You are right, tonyinstpete. Some western countries are light years ahead of us.