Never been "next"

My friend and debate partner lives up to the second half of his description in response to my post "You may not be gay, but you may be next." The delay in posting is mine, not his. He was actually rather prompt in his reply. I will only make one comment. While I am a lot more out now than I was 7-8 years ago there are still people I have not come out to. This includes my church and one brother and his family.

I'm Jewish -- I always feel that I can be "next". And so far never been "next".

I don't know what will come down in California, but gays are being overly fearful here.

There are a LOT of case law precedents and much settled opinion, here and internationally, that people have rights and they are not subject to majority whims. Nazis and neocons may take over the world and violate those rights, but that principle of the rule of law won't be overturned, ever.

There is a problem here that discrimination against LGBTs is still legal, just as discrimination against blacks was legal in the South a century ago. That changed during my lifetime. The rights that LGBTs need and should have aren't yet recognized -- emphasis on "yet". It's coming, more slowly than we wish, as always, but coming. I've seen a vast sea change in my lifetime and the next generation will carry those changes further. Almost no one was out of the closet in 1980; you are openly gay today.

This is no time for gays to turn pessimistic. Fight, fight, fight! March, march, march!