Your old road is rapidly aging; please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand

So Washington has become the seventh state to grant marriage equality to gays and lesbians. There have no doubt been celebrations in the Evergreen State, but of course there have likely been meetings and planning sessions as the bigots and homophobes ready their counter attack. They have until June to gather enough signatures to put civil rights on the ballot.

What a country we live in. A state's residents can vote on who has rights and who doesn't. Imagine if that had been true on a national level in 1964 and 1965 when society-changing civil rights legislation was passed. Does anyone doubt that, had granting civil rights for African-Americans been put to a vote of the citizenry, it would have failed? In 1964? Of course it would have failed!

That's why Jefferson wrote that ALL men are created equal, that they have an INALIENABLE right to life, liberty and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. All men, not just heterosexual men; inalienable, meaning "cannot be taken away;" pursuit of happiness -- well, for a lot of people, that includes pursuing the object of your love and marrying her or him.

I'm not arguing that Jefferson was a gay rights crusader, but it's pretty clear he realized certain rights could not be taken away, not by the king, nor government, nor a concerned (or crazed) citizenry.

Am I riding a dead horse here?  Would the homophobes in Washington State and the rest of the country just get over it? You are on the wrong side of history. Get out of the way.

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The complete lyrics to Bob Dylan's prophetic classic:

Come gather 'round people wherever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now

Will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'

The line it is drawn the curse it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin'

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'

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And in a totally unrelated and only slightly less important development, this New York Times headline belongs in the “World Is Coming To An End” File: Pekingese Steals Show Along With Westminster’s Top Honor.

The runner up breed at the Westminster Show