What disturbs me about this election is not that Bush was reelected. It disturbs me that gay marriage was somewhat of a sleeper issue. It turns out that when asked what mattered to voters most after coming out of the polls, a plurality answered "moral values," to which, with 11 states having gay marriage ban referendums and 8 of those including civil unions (all of which passed quite comfortably), the issue of gay marriage is directly related.
gta2 on windows xp crackThere are perfectly legitimate and understandable reasons for people to oppose gay marriage. Still, in light of Iraq, the economy, and other more or less large, election-deciding issues, that it ultimately came down to whether a person wanted to hear wedding bells for Steve and John or not is in some ways kind of amusing, and in some, kind of pathetic.
Perhaps gays have been proceeding under the mistaken assumption that there is no turning back, that is is no such thing as regress. That is the consequence of pushing too hard, too fast. Perhaps gays have also been under the mistaken assumption that ill-will towards us is something obscure and fading, and that we are free to steamroll ahead. This is simply not the case. It is still not OK by any widespread standard to be gay in today's high schools, token effeminate queers with a band of "fag-hags" notwithstanding. America is not reflected on TV; "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is not a reliable gauge of how far we've come in rural america, where it is still not OK to be openly gay with many folks.
If gays expect to win broad tolerance or acceptance, they should learn through this election, which was partially a referendum on moral values, that stepping on people's toes is not what will accomplish it, and the judiciary is not the all-powerful protector of minorities.
Will the gay left realize these things? Probably not. While they blithely scream and whine, setting people against gays and gay causes, the quiet and conservative percentage of gays that voted for Bush will continue to make the real change: Breaking stereotypes, making people realize that you do not have to be a promiscuous, liberal activist to be gay.