I don't think people younger than about 30 really understand how far left the country has moved on LGBTQ issues in just their lifetimes.
In 2004, George W. Bush barely won re-election. The strategy that pushed him over the top? Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage referenda in critical states, the brainchild of Karl Rove. The right turned out in droves to keep gay people from getting married, and gave Dubya a second term.
The Joy Reid articles in question were from one year later -- 2005. This was three years before California -- California! -- would pass Proposition 8, even as they elected Barack Obama by a wide margin.
Note that in 2008, all Democratic candidates for president were officially opposed to Same Sex Marriage, because support was seen as a potential death knell. An ABC poll taken that year showed opposition to SSM at 58%, and support at just 36%.
It would not be until 2010 that a CNN poll would finally show support for SSM over 50%, and then, just barely. It would be 2012 before the public would consistently support it -- and not coincidentally, that was the year Obama officially changed his position to support.
2012 was the first year that an anti-SSM measure was defeated, in Minnesota. And the momentum by that point was clear. Obergfell was written in 2015. Today, 64% of Americans support SSM. But consider those numbers.
Support for SSM is 64% now. Just a decade ago, it was at 36%. Yes, maybe 1/6th of the voting population has turned over -- old people have died and been replaced by more tolerant young people. But that doesn't account for a 28% swing in support.
The last decade has seen an incredible transformation of views on LGBTQ rights. (And no, SSM is not the same as all LGBTQ rights, but it's a decent proxy.) And that means a whole lot of people have *changed their minds.*
This is why I'm not going to go after Joy Reid for being homophobic in 2005. Because a whole lot of people who are today totally fine with SSM were, back then, opposed to it. A whole lot of people learned about the issue, and got better.
And *that's what we want people to do.* If you're a racist, fuck you. But if you're a racist, and you realize you're a racist, and you decide you don't want to be, and you learn not to be, and over the years you become anti-racist? Great! Good for you!
We don't make society better by hoping old people die. We make society better by building a case for tolerance. In the case of SSM, it was states legalizing SSM and the sky not falling. People could look at Massachusetts and see that they were doing just fine.
And I should note, I'm using SSM, but this has actually moved the needle on gay and lesbian rights across the board, which is why the right is currently putting so many of its chips on bathroom bills. Demonizing gay and lesbian people doesn't work anymore.
But this is *recent*. I'm old enough to remember when gay jokes were not only common, but weren't really considered offensive. Old enough to remember when the f-word was not nearly as awful as the n-word. And while I'm 44, I'm not 82. This is recent history.
And in this environment, saying you found homosexuality disgusting but supported SSM was not considered offensive. It was considered almost progressive. (It wasn't, in the same way Song of the South wasn't.)
I've supported same-sex marriage since I first learned of it as a concept. When I was 17. But when I was, say, 22, did I performatively say that of course I found it icky because I was totally straight? You bet your ass I did.
And I'm not defending that. It was a lousy thing to do. But it was also *expected*, because otherwise you'd be suspected of being gay, and at the time, I believed that was bad. (Today, I view it as something like being suspected of being left-handed. I'm not, but who cares?)
Fortunately, over the last two decades, I've learned. And I'm better than I was, and hopefully, in two decades, I'll be better than I am now. That's the goal. For all of us.
So miss me with attacks showing that fifteen years ago, a liberal writer was not great on LGBTQ issues. That's going to be true of any straight liberal writer of 15 years ago, and Dan Savage too. What I care about is where people are now -- and that those people want to learn.
If Joy Reid wrote something hateful about someone over the past few years, bring it forward. If she's still homophobic, let me know. But if the best you can show is that maybe fifteen years ago she was? Folks, I remember when Paul Wellstone voted for DOMA.
We all were.
We all were.
