Summer of Love Rolls On

With the minimum required votes, the California State Assembly today joined the California State Senate in passing AB 849, the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act" defining marriage in gender-neutral terms. California's legislature is now the first in the nation to endorse gay marriage. It was good to see the President of the California chapter of the NAACP and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers lend their support to the bill--without them, it probably would have failed to gain the requisite 41 votes as it did back in June.

Now the bill goes before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not made his intentions clear. Would it be a master stroke of political centrism if he were to sign it? Would it guarantee Arnold re-election in this liberal state? Or would it instead make it impossible for him to survive recriminations from conservatives in the Republican Primary election? We don't know.

But we do know that the entire history of this country has been one of liberals fighting for freedom against the dogged resistance of the conservative elite. Conservatives fought hard to deny basic rights to blacks, latinos, women, children, the disabled, and the elderly--but in the end, they lost every fight. Yes, it takes years of heartache and the conservatives trot out the same tired arguments every time. But as Jefferson wrote more than two centuries ago, it is a self-evident truth that we are all created equal and we all have the right to be free and seek our own happiness...and this truth has a way of winning out.

When it comes to fighting against gay marriage, conservatives are not only fighting against this basic truth of equality, but against freedom and love as well. Truth, love and freedom... ah, even in the Bush years, liberals should take heart! For no force on Earth can stand against all three for long.