Gay Marriage: Predictable Rights

When I taught American history at Sentinel High School in Missoula, Montana some 30 years ago, my first department chair was a wise, maternal, conservative mayor's wife named Rose Hart, then close to retirement. Rose's family of origin somehow combined ties to Minnesota and to Iceland. I remember thinking how blue skies, shining lakes and frozen climates must be in her genes, as she had a clarity and range of vision that was almost shocking at times.

"Every few generations," she told me, "the American people determine it's time to grant another group a bold expansion of rights previously enjoyed only by men of privilege." She cited the end of slavery and the start of property and voting rights of women before asking me to speculate on the next big leap.

Saturated with long-haired teens and their wisecracking, profanity-laced language and tee shirts back then, I instantly said, "Children? Seems to me they're getting away with more and more, so maybe we'll start granting more and more rights to them."

"No," said Rose, "you're speaking of social rights; I'm speaking of the law and a breaking of bonds that are prohibitive to large groups of people." Eventually we got around to her "correct" answer: homosexual property and marriage rights. I was flabbergasted. Not offended, but shocked to think my friend Jack might someday be able to marry his partner Jim and share all the privileges and problems of heterosexual relationships under the American legal system. Such rash prospects had never occurred to me.

Yesterday the State of California followed the State of Massachusetts in catching up to Rose Hart's predictions. I'm sorry Rose isn't here to appreciate her prescience, wisdom and clarity of vision. She died knowing she was right, though, I'm sure. Not boastful, just clear. Like the lakes in Iceland, I'm thinking.