From "the other side of the aisle" on the NY Marriage Vote

Keeping an eye on what "the opposition" is thinking, writing, blogging and posting is always a smart thing to do ... even when it's hard to read what gets written about "us" on the other side of the aisle. And then there are days when you find stuff that's encouraging rather than discouraging. And today was one of those. And the place was Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler's blog ... where he was evaluating the impact of last week's New York decision on marriage equality. Take a look:

It will be difficult to exaggerate the impact of New York’s move to legalize same-sex marriage. The statistics tell part of the story. New York State becomes the sixth state to recognize same-sex marriage, but its population is greater than that of the other five combined. When same-sex marriage is legal in New York next month, fully one in every nine Americans will live in a state or jurisdiction where same-sex marriage is legal. By any measure, this is a massive development in the nation’s legal and moral life.

Add to this the fact that California, the nation’s most populous state, is hanging in the balance as Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment passed by the state’s voters defining marriage as exclusively the union of a man and a woman, is now an issue before the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco. It arrived at the appellate court after a federal judge in California ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. If California is added (again) to the states with legal same-sex marriage, more than a third of the nation’s citizens will live where same-sex marriage is the law of the land... Add to this the fact that President Obama has instructed his own Attorney General not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in courts.

In the end, it is difficult to know how one can exaggerate the importance of New York’s shift on marriage. New York is not merely a highly populous state — it also includes the nation’s most significant city in terms of economics, business, and cultural influence.

The legalization of same-sex marriage represents nothing less than a moral revolution, for what the law allows and recognizes, it also approves. Last Friday was a sad day for marriage and, if the advocates of same-sex marriage are right, it was also a sign of things to come.

So there you have it. The only part I disagree with is the "sad day" comment. Rather I find it a day to rejoice and be glad in ... one that is WAY more than two steps forward on that arc of history that bends toward justice.