Gay Marriage, Briefly

Contrary to my general disillusionment with elected leaders in the last month or so when it comes to gay rights, I'm pretty excited to hear that NY Gov. Patterson is going to push New York's gay marriage bill to a vote before the Senate breaks this summer, even if the prospect of enactment is remote.

And yes, I know that 2009 is going to emerge as one of the most important watershed years in the history of gay rights, regardless of what happens in the next six months. That doesn't make it any easier to take when the president of the United States refuses to even acknowledge those important victories, and it doesn't make it okay to avoid the question when political realities might make pushing the legislation less than ideal.

So, basically, kudos to Gov. Patterson.

Oh, and Senator Dodd (D-CT) is now in favor of gay marriage:

While I’ve long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status (“civil unions”) and full marriage rights.

The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they’ve struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that’s not an easy thing to overcome.

But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn’t a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.

Sweet. Kudos to him, too.