Questions for Politicians Who Oppose Gay Rights

The other day, my mayor, Michael Bloomberg, gave a stunningly good speech in support of marriage equality.

One of the things Bloomberg said is that history has not been kind to the people who oppose the march of freedom in America. Indeed not.

I decided I would expand a little on this. I'd like to ask politicians who oppose GLBT rights some questions:

Do you remember Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi?

Did you know that Theodore Bilbo built veterans' homes, made school attendance mandatory, built a tuberculosis hospital and banned public hanging as a punishment? Did you know that Bilbo fought against corruption? Did you know that Bilbo helped (through scurrilous means, but nevertheless.... ) Al Smith win Mississippi and helped pass FDR's new deal? No. Probably not. When you think of Bilbo, you remember a bigot. You remember someone who railed against the "mongrelization" (his word) that was inevitable if Blacks lived with Whites

What about Bilbo's successor as Senator from Mississippi, John Stennis?

Did you know that John Stennis wrote the first ethics code for the Senate? Did you know that Stennis was the first Democrat to criticize Joe McCarthy? Did you know Stennis voted against Robert Bork for SCOTUS? Did you know that Stennis eventually changed his views on civil rights quite a bit, to the extent that he campaigned for Mike Espy, who became the first Black congressman from the south since reconstruction?

Probably not. You remember a bigot.

And now, another question.

How do you want history to remember you?

Because you're going to lose. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. The arc of history bends against you; sometimes that arc is slow, but it keeps bending. Kids today look at gay marriage differently than even the liberal adults.
Recently, a kid asked a teacher if he had kids. The teacher said "I've told you I'm gay" and the kid replied "What does that have to do with it?" In my son's school, each kid in his class was asked to write a letter to Obama. More than half said "let gay people marry". So, yes, you are going to lose. You are bigots.

And while Stennis is remembered as a bigot, the memories of George Wallace, another more-famous southern bigot, are somewhat different. No mistake that Wallace was a bigot for much of his life and career. He "stood in the schoolhouse door" to prevent integration. He said people who supported integration should be given "barbed wire enemas". But he changed. And he said he was wrong. And that is remembered too.

How will history remember you?