The Ball Is Rollin'

"There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place in all the land but one-- the pulpit. It yielded last; it always does. It fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined the procession-- at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery texts in the Bible remained; the practice changed; that was all." ~ Mark Twain

We can thank Mitt Romney for dredging up the 1913 law that allowed states not to recognize gay marriage performed in another state or country. Well, yesterday New York Governor David Paterson decided that the decision in California made that law superfluous when he ordered all state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere.

The memo informed state agencies that failing to recognize gay marriages would violate the New York's human rights law, Duggan said.

The directive follows a February ruling from a New York state appeals court. That decision says that legal same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions are entitled to recognition in New York.

"This was in direct response to a court ruling," Duggan told CNN. "Just to make sure all the state agencies are on the same page."

Suck it, Romney. When I read that last line about making sure all the agencies are on the same page, I can just hear the "Whether you like it or not" that should follow it.

Following the California decision, the ball is a-rollin' in this country. Now it's only a matter of time before religious people, as usual, are forced by an avalanche of common sense and compassion to follow the rest of us into progress. It's as predictable as the sunrise. Every generation there is a push for the rights of normal people which is opposed by the religious people who, after kicking and screaming, always lose. They have always lost; they will lose this, and they will lose the next one. It just makes me sad that these battles must be fought at all.