He's not even a Senator anymore. He had little influence. You may have qualified your statement, but it's still pretty low. Don't hold your elation over Strom's death too long. You might explode.

I have a new goal: I hope to be influential enough that when I die as an old man, small-minded people around the world rejoice at my death as the revel in their own superiority.

If you ain't pissing people off, you ain't trying... :)

Seriously, though, Senator Thurmond is increasingly an anachronism, no doubt. Even groups that have been traditionally steadfastly opposed to homosexuality have found themselves rationalizing acceptance in the fact of the obvious trend in society. Lott and crew would probably warn us that before we gleefully pour into the street in celebration, we ought to wait a few years and see what the results of this might be. I say that most people today are either unaware or accepting of the changes brought about in our society as a result of previous acceptance of formerly taboo behaviors, so why would this one be any different?

Life goes on, time changes, and things can never stay exactly as they were. Most people understand that, and those that don't will eventually die. And it will be sad.

While reiterating that I take no pleasure in Thurmond's demise and see no reason in his death for rejoicing (and goddess knows I am superior to no one in anything), I can boast about this: I'd wager some folks are celebrating my impending death while I am still among the breathing. No, I am not influential, merely despised. :)

You are right about this: Change is difficult and often sad. Death is a particularly sad change. I mourn the loss of Strom Thurmond as I mourned the losses of Rachel Corrie and Timothy McVeigh and Gregory Peck and the DC-area sniper victims. Any death is sad news, but that doesn't mean that the aftereffects of someone leaving this mortal realm won't be positive for someone.

As far as GLBT Americans go, any change that leaves them less unequal under law isn't good or bad, per se, but it is necessary, whatever the fallout. If America is about equality for all, change must happen. If you're heterosexual, imagine one day living life as a second-class citizen with less "equality" than other citizens. Imagine living your entire life denied equality in a country that insists (mendaciously) that it treats all of its citizens equally. I live there -- trust me, it's a horrifying existence. I hope I have the privilege of dying the way Strom did -- as an equal citizen under law.

It may take hets time to determine whether they believe overturning sodomy laws is a good thing. For queers overturning these and all unjust laws that insititutionalize bigotry and inequality is mandatory. If it will be easier for us to win true equality with fewer opponents around, as sad as that is, so it must be. Everybody has to die anyway.

For what it's worth, Texas's laws were ridiculous anyway, as was the defense of them I heard proferred recently on NPR. The man actually tried to claim that somehow male-male sodomy was a greater public health risk than male-female sodomy. Note that one was illegal, while the other wasn't.

That's just weird. Good riddance to that law.

N, I didn't take your piece as celebrating anyone's death, just taking the opportunity to assess the current situation with an eye toward your concerns. I'm not glad the guy is dead, but I'm not glad he lived either.

Natalie,

I think of Thurmond's death as a symbol, and an encouraging one, as you note. The death of this small-minded, bigoted man symbolizes the overall attrition of prejudice in America.

It IS good that so much prejudice is dying with the people who hold it, and that each new baby born has a much greater chance of growing up tolerant and open-minded than each person who dies was in his or her life.

(And I think there's nothing wrong with contextualizing Thurmond's death this way--come on, the guy was 100. It's not like his death is a tragedy for anyone, including his family. He wasn't taken in the prime of life in a horrible accident or something. I think we're allowed to talk about who a public figure actually was when noting his or her death. There is a difference between analysis and gloating.)

This study that you linked to is also very encouraging. While it is sad that so much ignorance exists, the fact that those who hate or fear or oppose queers are generally those who have no particular experience of queers means everything. The GLBT movement is loud and growing. Pretty soon there will be very few people left in America who can base their opinion of gays solely on second-hand information from a gay-baiting fundamentalist preacher.

The Leviticus skinheads will still exist, of course, but their numbers will dwindle and their hate rhetoric will carry a stigma. Even here on Blogcritics there are certain folks who are, er, "uncomfortable" with the idea of homos. But I speculate that the reason they don't post their true feelings in comments, but instead use weasely language to tap-dance around the issue, is that they know they will appear to be bigots to most readers here. They have no solid argument to advance, only prejudice, so they can't expose their convictions to the marketplace of ideas.

Which is just another good reason to keep talking and keep posting about the issue. More conversation, from all sides, can only help promote tolerance and, eventually, achieve equality for the GLBT community.

Thanks for the excellent post.

Mark this one down as another one of those rare occasions on which we agree, Brian. We do have one point of possible disagreement: The "loud and growing" group of which you speak is more "loud" than "growing," since it still seems to run at roughly 2-3% of the adult population by even most generous estimates (with statistical outliers at .5% and 10% being proferred on occasion).

However, in general you're right. I think we all benefit from an environment that respects and allows for differences among people, and I hope that even the bigots learn that the tolerance that enables those with whom they (the bigots) are uncomfortable to carry on a normal life is (in theory) the same tolerance that keeps the rest of us from pounding the bigots in the nose for expressing their ignorance.

I have no use for uninformed bigots, be they anti-homosexual, anti-Christian, anti-technology, anti-Moslem, or anti-anything else. If someone wants to debate the issues particular to GLBT people, then fine. Educate yourself and debate away. But the topic bores me, I'd rather just live my life and let people live theirs.

The movement is growing. It is attracting people who are straight but still consider themselves strong supporters of the GLBT-equality cause, including other political groups who fold GLBT-equality in with their other aims.

Much like the 1950s-60s civil-rights movement involved more than just the African-American population of the U.S.

This is also a civil-rights movement. There is a serious problem that needs to be solved, and injustice to address. That's why so many of us don't feel this is an idle debate. That's why the topic doesn't bore me.

Has anyone told Strom he's dead?