It feels like we have finally taken a historic step toward equality for all Americans with the election of our first African-American president. And in a lot of ways, we have. This is a moment that a lot of people thought was not possible. Just a few short months ago Hillary Clinton was calling super delegates asking them to back her, arguing that Barack Obama was “not electable.” That coming from a woman whose own husband was referred to as America’s “first black president.” Even they did not think it possible for a black man to win the White House, much less with such a large margin of victory.
But there are other segments of society that still face tremendous discrimination, namely gays and secularists. Do you think a gay person could become president? Or a non-believer? Despite the fact that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution clearly states that all men are created equal, and that we have religious freedom in this country?
Those of us who are not gay do not have the right to tell those who are that there is something “wrong” with them for having been born that way. We may not understand it on a personal level, but we don’t have to -- we just have to accept them as they are, the same way they accept that we are heterosexual. It is un-American, un-Democratic and just plain wrong to enforce your personal beliefs on others’ lives. Yet it seems that believers are determined to enforce their religious beliefs on everyone, as if only they know what’s best for the people of this country.
I remember when John McCain guested on Ellen DeGeneres’ show, before California allowed gays to marry (a law which unfortunately has apparently now been overturned). When she asked him how he felt about gay marriage, he gave the standard line about not having an issue with gays visiting their partners in hospitals, etc. etc…. and Ellen responded that it sounded to her like he was saying “You can sit there, you just can’t sit there” (gesturing to one chair in the audience and then another). And she’s right. It’s a halfway measure that isn’t really fair. Obama hasn’t been in favor of gay marriage, either, so this isn’t just a Republican prejudice. It does make me wonder, though, if the majority of the electorate were in favor of gay marriage, would that change whether Obama publicly came out in favor of it? Maybe… it’s certain that McCain would not have, though, lest he lose his evangelical base.
As for secularism, the right to this is already guaranteed by the Constitution (see Article VI and the First Amendment). Yet I think it would be virtually impossible to elect a non-believer President, just as it would be almost impossible to elect a Jewish person, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist. Remember when Mitt Romney was running… the question became whether or not his Mormon faith (which some still consider to be more of a cult than a true religion) would hold him back from being elected. Candidates from Barack Obama to Kay Hagan felt they had to stress their Christian faith in order to be elected. Why is there a religious litmus test for office when this is clearly anti-Constitutional? Moral fiber is not determined by whether or not a person attends church or believes in a supernatural higher power. There have been many politicians who claim to be good Christians caught doing very non-Christian things.
On the very same day that we took a big step toward racial equality in this country, California took a step backward by overturning gay marriage. In the same month, Sen. Elizabeth Dole put out two shameless ads trying to win reelection by pointing out Kay Hagan’s slim ties to an atheist PAC, as if being a non-believer was something so horrible than anyone who even broke bread with such people could not be trusted to be a United States Senator.
Obviously, we still have much work to do to make this country a place where everyone truly has the same opportunities.
