Marches and marriages

Gay rights need to go national

The "Millennium March," Washington D.C.'s largest gay rights march in seven years, took place this Sunday and was attended by at least 200,000 people. When it was being planned, its organizers didn't know it would culminate a week which saw events of incredible significance to the gay rights movement. The march capped a week that saw Vermont become the first state to extend all the benefits it gives to married couples to homosexual couples, a renewed push by President Clinton to extend federal hate crimes laws to cover sexual orientation and the hearing by the Supreme Court of arguments over whether the Boy Scouts can exclude gays.

Vermont's extension of marriage benefits to gay and lesbian couples is an encouraging step towards granting homosexuals the equal rights they deserve. This small, mostly rural, state has taken the lead in recognizing the validity of homosexual relationships and will hopefully be an example to the rest of the nation.

Most advances in gay rights are currently coming from states and localities. Congress has considered virtually no gay rights bills over the past several years and has even been reluctant to act on legislation that would extend hate crimes laws to cover sexual orientation. The importance of federal hate crimes legislation is to make sure the federal government can get involved in cases in localities where crimes against homosexuals are routinely ignored. It also sends the important message that our government will not tolerate crimes based on sexual orientation. The first hate crimes laws were important victories in the civil rights movement, protecting African Americans and other racial minorities. There can and should be similar protections for the gay civil rights movement.

There have been significant strides in the fight for gay rights recently. It is extremely gratifying that, while much discrimination still exists for gays, society is moving toward equality amongst all people.