My point is that Powell changed his mind on the question on whether the State should say that what is acceptable for heterosexuals is not acceptable for homosexuals. Originally Powell said "Yes, the State has the right to discriminate like that." Eventually, he realized he had errored, and the Supreme Court realized it, too, and overturned Bowers v. Hardwick. What underlay Bowers v. Hardwick was bigotry, the same bigotry that underlies DOMA: the idea that "what applies to you doesn't apply to me.
Our culture changes slowly on social issues, but it does change. Plessy v. Ferguson was a mistake and the Civil War resulted. People eventually came to understand that the Supreme Court had made a mistake, that blacks were entitled to the same civil rights as whites. And yes, people did argue during the 19th century that the separate and unequal situations for whites and blacks was "natural" and "the way God wanted things to be." It took almost a hundred years until the Civil Rights act of 1964, but the culture finally caught up to the truth.
Bowers v. Hardwick was a mistake, and has been overturned.
I'm waiting for America to see that same truth about DOMA. My point on Wellstone is, I hope that Wellstone, like Powell, might eventually have become one of those people who admit, "I was wrong" on this particular issue--had he lived.
no subject
Our culture changes slowly on social issues, but it does change. Plessy v. Ferguson was a mistake and the Civil War resulted. People eventually came to understand that the Supreme Court had made a mistake, that blacks were entitled to the same civil rights as whites. And yes, people did argue during the 19th century that the separate and unequal situations for whites and blacks was "natural" and "the way God wanted things to be." It took almost a hundred years until the Civil Rights act of 1964, but the culture finally caught up to the truth.
Bowers v. Hardwick was a mistake, and has been overturned.
I'm waiting for America to see that same truth about DOMA. My point on Wellstone is, I hope that Wellstone, like Powell, might eventually have become one of those people who admit, "I was wrong" on this particular issue--had he lived.