The Triumph of Liberty for All

Greg Berlanti, along with other LGBT celebrities, was asked by The Advocate, the LGBT news magazine, what his reaction was to Thursday's gay marriage ruling. He is an openly gay executive producer and writer behind ABC's Brother and Sisters and many other television shows.

Berlanti commented on how sad it is that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton could celebrate this victory with us, given their political stance on gay marriage. Both prefer civil unions to gay marriage.

In contrast, he offers the speech by Spain's Prime Minister, Jose Zapatero, upon the passage of Spain's historic gay rights legislation, which was equally demonized by the Religious Right in Spain.

We are not legislating, honorable members, for people far away and not known by us. We are enlarging the opportunity for happiness to our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, and our families: at the same time we are making a more decent society, because a decent society is one that does not humiliate its members.

In the poem 'The Family,' our [gay] poet Luis Cernuda was sorry because, 'How does man live in denial in vain by giving rules that prohibit and condemn?'

Today, the Spanish society answers to a group of people who, during many years have been humiliated, whose rights have been ignored, whose dignity has been offended, their identity denied, and their liberty oppressed. Today the Spanish society grants them the respect they deserve, recognizes their rights, restores their dignity, affirms their identity, and restores their liberty.

It is true that they are only a minority, but their triumph is everyone's triumph. It is also the triumph of those who oppose this law, even though they do not know this yet: because it is the triumph of Liberty. Their victory makes all of us (even those who oppose the law) better people, it makes our society better. Honorable members, there is no damage to marriage or to the concept of family in allowing two people of the same sex to get married. To the contrary, what happens is this class of Spanish citizens get the potential to organize their lives with the rights and privileges of marriage and family. There is no danger to the institution of marriage, but precisely the opposite: this law enhances and respects marriage.

Today, conscious that some people and institutions are in a profound disagreement with this change in our civil law, I wish to express that, like other reforms to the marriage code that preceded this one, this law will generate no evil, that its only consequence will be the avoiding of senseless suffering of decent human beings. A society that avoids senseless suffering of decent human beings is a better society.

With the approval of this bill, our country takes another step in the path of liberty and tolerance that was begun by the democratic change of government. Our children will look at us incredulously if we tell them that many years ago, our mothers had less rights than our fathers, or if we tell them that people had to stay married against their will even though they were unable to share their lives. Today we can offer them a beautiful lesson: Every right gained, each access to liberty has been the result of the struggle and sacrifice of many people that deserve our recognition and praise.

What a pity our politicians are found to be so lacking in comparison to Mr. Zapatero. He understands that Liberty is best judged by how a nation treats its minority, not the majority.

Could we substitute Mr. Zapatero by write-in vote?