As a child of the turbulent sixties, I was convinced time promised a better tomorrow. Through assassinations and a bloody war, bold Americans learned to speak up for their beliefs and work for what was right. There was a sense that - yes, change was tough, but we'll evolve through our difficulty towards a brighter tomorrow. These were the days of the Mustang and Joplin - of a country on fire, looking for healing and freedom from repression and ignorance.
Clela Rorex is hardly a household name, but her determination to do her job responsibly put her at the flash point social change. In Boulder Co, on March 26, 1975, Clela issued the first same-sex marriage licenses in the United States. Her motivation was clear - open up society for all pledged couples because it was the right thing to do.
In the ensuing thirty-five years, America is only worse for her exclusion of gay countrymen from marriage equality. Zealots and lunatics have bred repression and prejudice. America's leaders are influencing a new generation of children to hate for God and country. Today's progressive heroes divide their time between fighting for social change and helping our children survive hate in the schoolyard.
Clela Rorex had courage when she was called upon. Americans must have the guts to open their hearts - or it will be our own outrageous stupidity, rather than God's wrath that will doom us all.
I was living in Boulder at the time....and the thing I remember most clearly was that such an idea was emphatically NOT greeted with....... OMG!..... How Revolutionary!....how scary!.....
No,....perhaps partly because it was "The People's Republic of Boulder"....... this was seen largely as the logical extention of the advances gained in the area of civil rights during the previous decade.
I don't remember ANYONE pretending to be so obtuse as to not "get" the connection between civil rights for people of color and gays....
Sure, religious groups reacted negatively, but let's remember that the most liberal churches still paid lip service to the proscription against premarital (heterosexual) sex.
It's also helpful to remember that 1975 was BEFORE Ronald Reagan's Presidency, and the rise of the "Moral Majority" etc.
Put simply, religious groups had not yet been ENCOURAGED to believe that,...if they were shrill (and organized) enough....unscrupulous politicians would grant them the power to oppress others.
It's pleasant to remember what an open and inspired time and place that was....
But it's sad to realize that NO one at the time could have imagined we'd still be arguing the fundamental questions of civil rights for ALL Americans lo, these many years later.
Regards
TM
Thanks, Tom , for reminding us. Now put that ugly shirt and jacket away, please ...