Was it only July 2000?
I mean, it seems like forever ago that Vermont established its civil union law. And you’d have thought it was the End of Western Civilization. Radical, extreme, fringe, an assault on societal value, beyond the Pale …
And here we are, four years later … and suddenly gay civil unions are a middle of the road position. Kerry’s against gay marriage, but he favors civil unions. Bush’s against gay marriage, but he’s willing to let states do it. Even if not many states have established civil unions, there’s a sudden sense that only the oldest of fogies are willing to accept it, especially if it means that gay marriage might be off the table.
Heck, even this American Family Association article is, if not enthusiastic about civil unions, certainly speaking no evil about them.
Back a few years ago, many conservatives were outraged with Vermont became the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex civil unions. Such arrangements give homosexuals most, if not all, the legal rights of married couples without calling it marriage. But that outrage appears to be subsiding as the threat of homosexual marriage becomes more of a reality.
I just find it an astonishing shift in so little time.