Still Bending

By Sniffles

As the Republicans have managed to stall financial reform, we cats are reflecting on how long it can take to get stuff done in our country.

And not just because the GOP is bucking the very reforms that two-thirds of Americans want. Today is also the 10th anniversary of same-sex civil unions in Vermont. Governor Howard Dean signed H.B. 847 into law on April 26, 2000.

And he received a lot of death threats for his trouble. "He wore a bullet-proof vest," says Elizabeth Birch of the Human Rights Campaign. "At public events, he was called 'faggot' and every other epithet gay people have endured." (We suspect that these days, Governor Dean has probably given a lot of helpful advice to members of Congress whose lives have been threatened over healthcare reform.)

But our point is how slowly change can come. Today, 10 years after Governor Dean signed his name to that bill, the national conversation has moved more firmly toward same-sex marriage — but still, it's legal only in five states and the District of Columbia. (California — well, California is still thinking about it.)

On the one hand, that's pretty sad. We remember how shocked a Canadian friend was when we told her that marriage equality still doesn't exist in 45 U.S. states. But on the other hand, it's fairly speedy. American women didn't get the vote until 133 years after the Constitution was written. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came nearly a full century after the end of the Civil War. So let's all remember the elegant words of Dr. King: "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."

Happy anniversary, Vermont. And thanks, Governor Dean.