Having a Plessy Moment

While Californians grapple with a man-made problem, two Maryland shoppers prompt a re-imagining of the American Dream.


They walked in smiling, leisurely looked around the store, then left.

Even after they departed, I advanced to the store’s window, still staring, then straining as their figures slowly diminished.

The entire episode lasted less than five minutes. I watched, floored not so much at the fact that they were walking hand-in-hand, but that they caused me to rethink that two people could actually be happy with one another.

But for those two young men—one white, one black, both of college age and apparently oblivious to the world around them—it was a simple act that seemed triumphant without being cocky.

No doubt about it: For those of us still dreaming about the American Dream, those guys harbinger that the world is changing. A place where love trumps anger. Faith over fear. Light over darkness. All that good stuff.

But the world also shifts in other ways. If those two were planning another walk someday—down the aisle—they’d have one less state to consider.

Last month, voters in California had passed Proposition 8, which stuck down the state supreme court’s earlier ruling to allow same-sex marriage. (In the same election, Californians had voted in Prop 2 to allow for greater housing conditions for calves, hens and pigs. So, if you keeping score, that’s Livestock-1, Humans-0)

Talk about having a Plessy moment. Talk about separate-but-still-not-quite equal in the 21st century. Talk about casting ballots on whether people have the right to marry. Talk about love is nothing. Talk about a lack of plausibility. So, for the 19,000 couples that had been legally married—well, yes had turned into depending on the will of the voters or the outcome of a court case (which might not be decided until 20??), we may or may not be married. The state is making a mockery of our lives. But we scored some nice wedding gifts, so it’s not that bad!!

With the same-sex marriage issue working its way back through the California court, the fallout had been swift, with protests and finger pointing aplenty. Much of that criticism had gone in the direction of black voters, 70% of whom had voted to overturn the court’s initial ruling to allow same-sex marriage.

The way many had voted should not have been unexpected. Seems that blacks had bristled for years as gay movement leaders had likened their cause to the civil rights movement. And no matter how often it was described as “marriage equality,” you‘re still talking about men marrying men.

Nonetheless, as an advocate for same-sex marriage, what happened had been totally disappointing.

While it is unfair to lay the passage of Propositon 8 at the doorstep of one group of voters, it also seems that black folks would understand that when the majority votes on the rites of the minority, the minority always loses. But using religion as a scapegoat, that had been conveniently forgotten.

Well, if those folks were interested in a theocracy, I command thee to promptly take leave for Saudi Arabia. Or Iran, Egypt, or any other place where strict adherence to doctrine is woven into society. In these places, gays are subjected to harassments, intimidations and public executions.

I can’t decide what’s worse: being stoned to death in public, or being stabbed in the back in a private voting booth.

For what it’s worth, I’ll stick with America, where all are supposedly equal under the law. This issue will surely work its way through the courts in many other states (currently under way in Iowa) and I predict one day will make its way to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime… well, as long as there is a heart full of love, the rest will have to take care of itself.

So for the kids I saw, thank goodness for free will and hearts desire. With all that hope. With all that optimism, with those smiles. Keep on walking, keep on inspiring, keep on showing that the dream, however defined, can be realized.