A new poll shows that 55% of Americans support gay marriage.  For those under the age of 30, that number is 78%.

Conservatives who scream that the courts are going against “the will of the people” are ignoring facts (as usual;  they also ignore the fact that a majority of Americans support Obamacare, think abortion and marijuana should be legal, want more gun control, support  raising taxes on the wealthy, raising the minimum wage, doing something about campaign finance reform, and do not believe that “corporations are people.” But that’s another topic…)

Anyway, the local federal court struck down Pennsylvania’s anti-gay marriage law yesterday, allowing us here to finally join the rest of the northeast in advancing into the 21st century, away from the prejudices of the past.  

Speaking of which, a friend of mine recently objected to being labeled as “prejudiced” for not supporting gay marriage, and pointed out that being against gay marriage had been the law of the land for years — so was everybody prejudiced before?

In the past, in a different world that we no longer live in, most people never even thought about this issue and I agree that they shouldn’t be called bigots or prejudiced. However, in today’s society, where the information is here and where no one can deny that people’s rights are being violated (only that they agree with the rights being violated) it’s a lot harder to defend yourself against labels like “bigot” or “prejudiced.”

If what you want takes away someone else’s rights for reasons for which they can’t control, then by definition your view is prejudiced, isn’t it?

However, I also think it’s not a good idea to call these people bigots or prejudiced.  (Well, most of them — some are so full of hate that they deserve the label).  Most people who are against gay marriage are, well, ignorant.

I don’t mean that in an insulting way.  Being ignorant is not a bad thing.  (I, for instance, am ignorant about calculus, fashion, and football teams.)  Ignorant is not the same thing as stupid.  Ignorance can be cured with education.

I think people who are against gay marriage are ignorant about the issue.  They haven’t really thought it through and once they do, they will come to the right side.  Maybe their religion keeps them ignorant (lots of religions do that) and maybe they like being ignorant.  But that doesn’t necessarily make them bigots.

I am old enough to remember when the thought of gay marriage was just plain silly.  Although I had plenty of gay friends in school and even some gay housemates when I was in college, I never considered marriage as a serious thing for them.  Marriage is for men and women, I’d say.  And then I wouldn’t think about the issue.  It wasn’t until the gay marriage movement started much later that I said to myself, “Hey, they’re right.  Why shouldn’t they get married?”  I wasn’t a bigot or prejudiced;  I just never really thought about it seriously before that time.  And I think that’s probably where a lot of people are today.

So let’s encourage them to see the light.  Let’s make them see that treating people as second class citizens is wrong, and that we should be encouraging love and marriage.

“We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history,” wrote Judge John E. Jones III (a Republican!) in his decision.  And he is absolutely correct.