Equality is still a long way off

I share John Schadl's hope that the election of Barack Obama can help us "put the evils of racism and bigotry behind us," but am afraid we have a ways to go. We cannot achieve this goal as long as one group of Americans - gays - remains an acceptable and, worse yet, government-sanctioned target for discrimination.

Americans should be appalled that more than 40 years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state laws prohibiting interracial marriages, voters in Arizona, California, and Florida passed initiatives banning same-sex marriage. They joined the ranks of 27 other states that already bar gay marriage. Adding insult to injury, same sex couples denied the right to marry are also denied the associated privileges because they are not married - Catch 22.

Connecticut is the shining star in this year's election process, becoming only the third state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Writing the majority opinion, state Supreme Court Justice Richard Palmer said "marriage carries a status and significance that civil unions can't meet," treating same-sex relationships as inferior. Just as "separate but equal" became an unacceptable rationalization for racial segregation, it is must become an unacceptable defense for the substitution of civil unions for same sex marriage.

It is well past time for Americans to demand that as a nation we rise above our fears and prejudices and ensure equal rights for all citizens. Only then will America be blessed.

Sheryl Jedlinski

Palatine