"...We can instantiate any amount of laws on the subject but that isn't going to make society and its various organizations accept it - that is not the role of government anyway, right?"
It is true that enacting a law cannot "make" people be more accepting of the issue, and that government cannot take a role of making people accept one another. But it has been shown to be true over and over that having a law in place does lend legitimacy to an issue, and helps to prevent unpunished action against individuals by those who do not "accept." Civil rights laws didn't "make" those whites who hated blacks accept blacks in society - but those laws did help us to be recognized as a valid segment of society, and to that end did legitimatize our outcries. And they did serve to legitimatize our right to be here, treated as equal members of society, none the less. And we can use them to punish those who challenge us on that level, whether they like it or not. It is a big statement when a society votes to say "we don't care whether you ever like gay couples or not, but we recognize them as equal members of this society, and will afford them the same rights in marriage, discrimination, whatever, as straight couples." And it is a first step to having people behave in a more positive way towards us (whether they ever like it or not). So I am happy to see the battle fought as a "gay" issue, regardless of the larger context to which it may point, and other issues it may entail now, or at some later date in social evolution. But that is my biased opinion - I am gay. M. M. Harvey, MPP, MPH Administrator of Quality Management Office of the Health Commissioner 1101 Market Street, Suite 840 Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 685-5690 fax - (215) 685-5398 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
