The Beginning Of Hope?

As I’ve stated in previous Pravda.Ru articles, most critics of affirmative action do not, in reality, object to “preferential treatment.” They simply want to maintain the racial, political and economic status-quo that permits them to be one of the “preferred.” Today’s America has a plethora of businesspeople, lawyers, judges, politicians and entertainers whose careers have largely evolved through preferential treatment.

Even as I listened to reporters proclaim how the election of Obama had made America a more tolerant place, I saw three states pass ballot initiatives outlawing “same-sex” marriages. Two of these states, California and Florida, had voted for Obama, which means he will probably be reluctant to promote federal legislation overturning these bans, since, in a reelection bid, he could potentially lose the eighty-two electoral votes these states currently possess.

Naturally the standard arguments supporting these bans were present: “Special rights” were being bestowed upon gays and lesbians, which ironically was the same argument once used to oppose efforts to outlaw racial discrimination; and, sexual orientation is a choice, not an immutable characteristic, and therefore can be regulated by the State.

But even if developments in science were not tending to refute this argument, it would still be specious. Virtually all human rights laws in America prohibit discrimination based upon religion, yet the faith one practices is also a matter of choice.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that far too many people fulfill their psychological need for self-worth by hating those they view as different or inferior. This is even evident in some of the most revered documents in American history.

The complete text of the Declaration of Independence, for example, speaks of “merciless Indian savages,” and the original Constitution considered African-Americans to be three-fifths of a human being. The infamous Dred Scott decision went even further, declaring that African-Americans had no rights at all.

Immigrants from Ireland were condemned as inferior during the mid-nineteenth century, while immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe were loathed during that century’s twilight years. After these groups became accepted, this hatred was redirected at people from Latin America.

In today’s America it is unfashionable to openly endorse discrimination against, or express hatred of, others because of their race, gender, religion or nationality. So all that is left is sexual orientation.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with these bans on same-sex marriage, this fact should be remembered: if, in 1967, in the case of Loving v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court had affirmed the State of Virginia’s power to regulate who can marry that stage in Chicago’s Grant Park on the evening of November 4, 2008 would have been empty, because it would have been illegal for Barack Obama’s African father and white mother to marry.

Obama’s election is being celebrated as a time in America when hope triumphed over hatred as the nation left its past behind to move towards a brighter future.

Only time will tell if this hope is justified.

David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda.Ru