Today's Young Hold the Future's Changes

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Brandon Cosby

One of the most promising aspects of any generation is that it will be wiser and more open than its predecessor. It is the idea that the young can succeed where others have failed that is the basic foundation of progress. Our generation is no different and we must soon prepare to take our place in the world.

We are tasked to make it a better one and doing so will not be simple. It will be a tremendous struggle, but it is something that must be done.

While it is painfully trite to say that "children are our future," it doesn't make it any less true. With our rise comes a radically different set of beliefs on life and values. We are more likely to hold more progressive social and religious views and be more liberal politically. Barack Obama knows this well, campaigning heavily towards the young liberal voters that compose a large section of his political base.

With our bold new clarity, however, is a responsibility to take on the issues left untouched by previous generations. The world and our country are mighty and sprawling places, replete with injustice. There are innumerable social and political problems crying for repair, but above them all remains one paramount in its importance.

No, I do not speak of climate change or of a broken foreign policy or of economic inequalities that cripple our country. I speak of something much more specific. Something that may seem slightly inconsequential compared to the rest, but still resonates with the fundamental ideas that form the core of our humanity. I speak of marriage equality and how it finally will make all Americans, no matter who they are, equal.

It is my firm belief that legalizing same-sex marriage and ensuring its inherent benefits will be the final blow against state-sanctioned discrimination. Preceding generations have always struggled to embrace radical civil rights change, from the 1960s with school desegregation to the 1980s with the Equal Rights Amendment. But, as our dawn approaches and our call to public service will begin to be heard, it is our responsibility to thunder forward where they have hesitated.

Now, while I doubt my few words here will do much to quell a decades-long debate, let me say that I know same-sex marriage is a basic tenet of civil rights. It is something that I know as surely as I do my own existence. It is not a question of choice.

One's sexuality is not a decision, and the common refrain that gays may still marry someone of the opposite sex is as incorrect as it is insulting. Neither is it an issue of religion. A couple can get married in a strictly secular ceremony in front of a Justice of the Peace, just as my father did. It is also not the start of a slippery slope. Marriage has been open to all in Massachusetts for years and the state has remained polygamy and bestiality free.

There is nothing inherently dangerous in allowing more people to marry. It does not damage the sanctity of another's marriage or shatter the entire institution. If anyone is tarnishing marriage, it is heterosexual couples with their speedy marriages, and even speedier divorces. And while I loathe labeling others with differing views as homophobic, the rhetoric of those such as ex-Sen. Rick "Man-on-Dog" Santorum seems tinged with fear.

This entire debate rests on the need of equality for all Americans on the most basic of levels, their sexuality. It encourages me to hear many people my age echoing more open sentiments, ones that seem to embrace all, regardless of color, creed or orientation.

While Oscar Wilde may have been the only gay person our grandparents had ever heard of, most people today have more than a few friends who are out and open. This progress is tremendous and just may be the final step needed in throwing back the cover of discrimination that has blanketed our country from its founding.

We step into a vast world after our time here at George Mason University. We will see so much that is wrong, things that will rattle us and cuase us despair. We must take comfort, however, in knowing that as the next generation in power, we will have the ability to change perhaps just a bit of it. We may not be able to end global hunger or create a lasting world armistice, but we can do something. We must focus on what we can affect and work towards it. And it is my sincere belief that insuring monogamous marriage for all and stamping out the final sliver of legalized discrimination in our country is something that is within our grasp to change, but only if we are willing.