Separate but Equal

Source: Warren K. Leffler, U. S. News and World Report, Donated to the Library of Congress

Today, June 11, is the anniversary of this event: Stand In the Schoolhouse Door, in which a U.S. state governor attempted to physically block the entrance of a public university to prevent the admittance of two black students. It is a deep shame that this could ever have occurred in the United States, deeper that it happened just 50 years ago, and deeper still that, following this sorry demonstration, this man would again be elected to the governorship three more times.

It is important also to remember that the argument made for segregation - separate but equal treatment - fifty years ago is still being made today. About marriage. It is just as true for gay rights today as it was for civil rights then: separate is not equal. The only real purpose for segregation or civil unions is to provide a legal method for one group of people to treat another unjustly.