What a Difference a Year Makes

At the Gay Pride celebration today, I was struck by the momentous change we've seen from just one year ago.

A year ago, we were fighting to prevent anti-gay bigotry from being written into our most fundamental document.  A year ago, we were forced to defend a status quo in which marriage was not open to all, but at least it was not constitutionally forbidden to all.  A year ago, we were shouting "no!" to a tide of intolerance, and sometimes felt like we were swimming upstream.

Today, we came together to celebrate, to join with one another in a joyful yes, an affirmation of our community's inclusiveness, an affirmation of our commitments to each other - whether in marriage, or in the kind of civil society that cherishes and respects our differences - and an affirmation of love.

Today, we celebrated not only the defeat of that terrible attempt to write marriage inequality into our constitution, but the knowledge that in a month and a day, Minneapolis City Hall will open at one minute after midnight for Mayor Rybak to perform wedding services for same-sex couples.

Today, we know that when those first same-sex couples are married in Minnesota, they will be extended all the federal rights and responsibilities of marriage, due to the Supreme Court's striking down of the "Defense" of Marriage Act.

It is a beautiful day.