Waiting for Justice. It's easy to urge gay men and lesbians to be patient and wait for society to come around to permitting same-sex marriage — if you're straight. It was also easy for most Americans to take their time about abolishing slavery. But waiting didn't seem so noble to the slave, and waiting does not, today, seem wise to gay men. The Stonewall Riots were almost 36 years ago. How long are we to wait? How long can any of us wait who belong to a species whose lifespan is only about "three score and ten"?
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And what of the precept "Justice delayed is justice denied"? It is never too soon to do justice.
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In researching where the quote "Justice delayed is justice denied" came from — I thought it was originated by the U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps during Earl Warren's tenure as Chief Justice — I discovered that it actually (apparently) was first uttered in that form by William Gladstone, a British politician of the 19th Century who traveled a long road from Conservative to Whig to Liberal. In checking the one quote, I came across some others you might want to see. I append some personal observations in brackets and italics. This first quotation is from worldofquotes.com:

Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race. [(1890) Heterosexuals are to hold tight to sole possession of marriage. How does it hurt them to let others marry too?]

These are from brainyquote.com:

All the world over, I will back the masses against the classes.

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. [Anti-gay hate-mongering may have brought short-term advantage to Republicans in winning the White House and Congress in 2004, but when the Republican Party puts itself on the wrong side of history, as promoter of antique and eroding intolerance, it subverts its future.]

Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God, as can be your own. [How very relevant to today!]

There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, founded not upon visionary ideas, but upon the long experience of many generations within the shores of this happy isle [Great Britain], that in freedom you lay the firmest foundations both of loyalty and order. [If the Federal Government had sided with slavery, in the 19th Century, and segregation in the mid-20th, how much loyalty could we expect from tens of millions of black Americans, and how much order would we enjoy in our streets? Gay Americans are for the most part nonviolent, tho the modern gay movement did arise from the Stonewall Riots, but this country has enemies, and when gay men are driven out of military translator jobs in the war against al-Qaeda, and otherwise insulted and attacked, society cannot long rely upon their continued loyalty. In an age when technology empowers a single individual to blow up a federal office building, it really is not a good idea to antagonize millions.]

You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side. [We can only hope. But how much time?]

And this last quote comes from bartleby.com:

National injustice is the surest road to national downfall. [Israel and its slaves in the U.S. Government really should heed that advice.]

Progress does not proceed at an even rate, but runs, then lags, skips expected steps, and jumps. Like tectonic plates sliding past each other, the longer no movement occurs, the more tension builds, and the bigger the destruction when the plates do finally slip. We saw that in nature with the catastrophic tsunami of late. What disruption do we face as a civilization if we do not move with the times as regards same-sex marriage? Progress can be gradual and smooth, or erratic and disruptive. I choose smooth.
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(Responsive to "A Noble Cause Takes Time", column by Arnold Ahlert in the New York Post, February 28, 2005)
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(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 1,497.)
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 3:33 PM