Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 76

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Popular Culture Review
choice is for the whole gay thing to go away, remember that
children can demand their first choice or nothing, but adults
must often deal in second choices. If you can never accept
same-sex marriage as just or moral, I ask you nonetheless to
consider: If gay marriage is outlawed, what will come in its
place? The world is changing, and marriage, like it or not, is
changing, too. (8-9)
As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change alone is
unchanging.” From Advocate.com, November 22, 2004:
Just a few weeks ago, Oregon state senator Ben Westlimd
voted yes on Measure 36 to ban same-sex marriages in
Oregon. Now, the central Oregon lawmaker is hard at work
drafting a civil unions bill for the 2005 legislature to give gay
and lesbian couples some of the rights bestowed on married
couples. “It’s just the right thing to do,” the Tumalo
Republican says. “Nothing in Measure 36 prevents the
legislature from affording equal rights and privileges to same-
sex couples.”. ..
And from 365Gay.com, November 22, 2004:
(Pretoria) South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church has issued a
formal apology to the nation’s gay community for years of
religiously fueled homophobia.
For decades the church has condemned homosexuality, fought
laws extending rights to gays and lesbians, and battled against
the recognition of same-sex relationships.
At its general synod in October The Dutch Reformed Church
agreed that its anti-gay attitude was rooted in the past and
voted to make peace with the gay community. . . . “We would
like to ask for forgiveness for the pain and suffering that we
caused you and your families in the past,” said [Dr. Kobus]
Gerber [the new leader of the denomination]. “We accept that
what we did in the past was wrong.” . . .
Penn State Abington College
M el Seesholtz