On Tuesday of this week, New York City conferred landmark status on The Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village that initially became famous due to a riot that occurred there on June 28, 1969. Although its architecture by itself is not particularly distinguished, it earned specific landmark status, in an area that was already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, due to the fact that it is considered the birthplace of the modern LGBT movement.
The first Gay Pride Parade was proposed in New York City in November of 1969. The following June, Gay Pride Parades were held in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and are now held in numerous countries around the world.
Public opinion about same sex marriage has shifted dramatically over the years. When Massachusetts became the first state to legalize sex marriage in 2004, the majority of Americans (55%) felt that same sex marriage should not be legal. Just prior to last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling approving same sex marriage in all 50 states, 60% of the American public was in favor of unions of same sex couples, and same sex marriage was legal in 36 states. Only 37% of the American population is still opposed to same sex unions.
The irony of the Supreme Court ruling is that one of the justices who voted AGAINST the ruling (African American Clarence Thomas) has TWICE married women who are Caucasian. Both marriages would once have been considered illegal in at least some states (including the state where currently lives) until 1967. He married his first wife, Kathy Ambush, in 1971. After their divorce in 1984, he married his current wife, Virginia Lamb, in 1987.
When I was a kid, there were those who said that a Catholic could never get elected President, but JFK got elected in 1960.
There were also people who once said that a divorced man could never get elected, but Reagan got elected in 1980.
There are STILL lots of people who believe that a black man isn’t capable of being President, but Barack Obama got elected in 2008, and is already ranked by many sources as one of the best Presidents that we have ever had (which you won’t hear on FOX “news”).
It’s virtually impossible to not read something about Friday’s Supreme Court ruling this weekend, but the most tasteful response (so far) is a picture that appeared on the news yesterday:
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