Some good news. Gay marriage gaining acceptance in Massachusetts

[Selatius]

Mass. Acceptance for Married Gays Grows

By THEO EMERY, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 16, 6:18 PM ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A year after the tumult of last May, when gays lined up at city halls across Massachusetts to exchange vows and celebrated with the popping of champagne corks, many of the same-sex couples have settled into the patterns of married life.

In all, nearly 6,200 same-sex couples — nearly two-thirds of them lesbian couples — have gotten married. They collect mementos of that day and the ones that followed: wedding rings, framed photos, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings. They have also checked off "married" on state government forms. They have gotten family memberships to health clubs and museums. And they have filed state taxes together.

For months after Jean McGuire wed her longtime lesbian partner in front of City Hall last May 17, she kept a card tucked in her wallet. She saved the note because of what her Irish-Catholic parents had unexpectedly written: their congratulations on the marriage.

These were the same parents who 14 years ago politely told their divorced daughter and her new partner that they were not welcome in their home.

But over time, there were family gatherings and vacations together, and slowly the family knitted itself back together. In fact, for Mother's Day, McGuire's parents sent her partner, Barbara Herbert, a card saying what a good mother she has been.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050516/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_married_life

[w13rd0]

1. Most of these people opposed...

...are because of fear of the unknown. Once they realize that committed same sex relationships have the same joys and trials that everyone else does, except those that society imposes upon them due to 2nd class citizen status, they soften. Only those as extreme as the Taliban and Christofascists continue to clutch to their unrealistic and cruel worldview that somehow sees monogomous gays as more of a threat to them than the shredding of the Constitution, economic insecurity and murderous foreign policy.

[megatherium]

2. Exactly. Anti-gay propaganda paints gays as

superficial sexual addicts incapable of true love, commitment and happiness. Once people see gay people who are caring and devoted to each other, as well as strong and courageous, their attitudes change.

As gay marriage becomes established in American culture, it will be powerfully healing to gay people, who have internalized great shame from the cultural stereotype that gay people are selfish, neurotic and sexually compulsive.