Progress Wins!

 Yesterday in the US Senate there were 62 votes, including all Democrats and 12 Republicans, to advance the Respect for Marriage Act for a floor vote which only need 51 votes to pass and that's a given. I don't know why I watched the sausage being made watching intently as the yays piling up and it made me happy each time a yay was uttered. The usual suspects threw themselves in the way, the Cruz's, the Cornyns, the Blackburns, the Grassleys, the Fishers (waste of air-Ne) the Hawleys, the Grahams (really?) , the Tubervilles, the Kennedys (Foghorn Leghorn-La) the Cottons (Slapdick-Ar) and the rest. But I, a person with 75% of the privilege allowed in this country (straight ,white , male, not so much on the "christian" part) have real passion for those who do not share that advantage. They've been fucked around with long enough.

I have never understood the opposition to something that does not affect your life in the least. If two men or two women or a black man and a white woman or a black woman and a white man or a turtle and Asian woman want to be a legal entity with all the rights afforded such legal agreements who the hell cares? When I saw Mitch McConnell, all jokes aside, a white man married to an Asian woman (Elaine Chao not Chow Chow) walked onto the floor and did a John McCain and thumbed himself downward I was aghast. The evil motherfucker literally just voted to make his marriage potentially illegal. Its absolutely baffling that these Republican cultists care either. I understand that there are people out there who believe that life is a zero sum game. For every dollar not given to you, it goes to somebody else and that's a loss for you. For every right given to a minority, that means a right is taken from you. That's not only illogical, it's bullshit . But that's how many people think. White Republicans enjoy white privilege. They enjoy Heterosexual privilege. Goddammit they dont wanna give it up.

Living proof that progress will win in the end despite the efforts to stop it. This was unthinkable even 20 years ago. Gay marriage or as the gays call it, marriage, was never going to pass. I remember the day back in 2000 when Measure 416 was on the ballot here in Nebraska. That measure outlawed same sex marriage and put it into the Nebraska Constitution (that's a cluster of dumb if you've ever read it) . I had hope that Nebraskans weren't asshole enough to pass a cruel measure like that. But the homophobes from outside the state came in, the Catholics and the LDS merged, and a disappointing reaction from the black community caused this measure to pass with 70% of the vote. 70 fucking percent of my state voted yes to this bigoted bullshit and that was the day I realized that Nebraska Nice was 70% horseshit. Cruelty is not a Nebraska Value or yeah I guess it is.

But progress wins. Period. It may be a rocky road, but as my generation of bitter old coots dies off, a new voter who is 18 and sees no color or gender or sexual identity replaces them. I really don't want anyone to die, I would prefer a re-awakening of logic and compassion, but dying is what all old fogies do and with them goes the "things were better back then" attitude. Good riddance.

Say speaking of progress. Virginia MAGA Governor Glenn Youngkin (not Young Kin) presented to the Virginia State Board Of Education brand spanking new social studies standards that eliminate all mention of Martin Luther King, Juneteenth (a national holiday), and  teach that slavery was just an unfortunate oops our bad deviation from American excellence. There also is not one mention of the word "racism". There is not one mention of slavery being a cause of the Civil War. It's a pure white supremacist version of American history.

Sorry Glenn but that shit's gonna stink. Bad. And when shit stinks it gets flushed or sprayed out of existence, much like your boy Donnie Trump. So eventually progress will win, and the dumbness that is Virginia history standards will go away. You cannot stop young people from critical thinking at some point in their lives. Some before others but eventually it will happen. Your history standards may appeal to people who haven't seen a classroom in 50 years, but to those currently in a classroom, that duck wont fly.

Progress, get onboard or just be a miserable cuss. Your choice