In 1920, our great-grandfather’s generation gave women the right to vote. A basic equality of rights was given to a class of people who were denied simply because of the way they were born. The church was against it. Women are under men. They should be silent. The men are the head of the household. But our nation is based on human equality, not what the church or the majority want. Our grand-father grew up seeing women differently and wondering about the curmudgeon generation that still rants about giving women equal rights.

In the 1960s, our grandparents generation saw the black people get equal rights. The church fought against it. The people fought it. The KKK burned crosses. But, our country is not based on popular ideas or church pulpits, it’s based on the Constitution and the rule of law. All men are created equal, regardless of what skin color they were born with. Black people were granted equal rights. It was the right thing to do. We look at our grandfathers and don’t understand how they can hate people of color and we quietly grumble at their occasional mutterings about “those people.” Our generation can’t imagine withholding those rights to black Americans or women.

Today, our generation is voting en masse to cut the rights of homosexuals. The church rails against it. The average person thinks that because gay men are born with a certain disposition, they are less than human. They are less worthy of rights. Popular votes are taking place all over the country. But that is not what this nation is built on. It’s built on the strong defending the weak and granting them the human, equal rights they deserve, regardless of what the church and the populace may think.

Our children will not look at homosexuals the way our generation does. They will not understand how we could deny equal rights to them simply because of the way they were born. They will roll their eyes as we gripe about the gay people.

We are a bigoted generation. Gay rights is not popular. It is not the churches will, but it is the right thing to do. It is the American thing to do. If you don’t want gay people to marry, you might want to stop those black people from eating at the lunch counter with you too. No? Well, buddy, that’s your legacy.