Flashback to 2004, Stanley Kurtz of the Hoover Institution in California, a conservative think tank, claimed that he had the statistics to show that the demise of heterosexual marriage was well underway in Scandinavia because of the granting of "marriage-like" (read, "separate but equal") gay relationship rights beginning with Denmark in 1989, Norway in 1993, Sweden in 1994, and Iceland in 1996. He predicted, "By the time we see the effects of gay marriage in America, it will be too late to do anything about it."

Governor Mitt Romney, revving up his presidential engines, predicted that Massachusetts would become "the Las Vegas of gay marriage."

James Dobson of Focus on the Family declared that Massachusetts was issuing "death certificates for the institution of marriage."

Flash forward to 2008, Kurtz's skewed interpretation of statistics has been soundly refuted by scholars like M.V. Lee Badgett who examined Kurtz's Scandinavian "data" and showed that "divorce rates have not risen since the passage of partnership laws, and marriage rates have remained stable or actually increased." (Badgett also wrote a compelling brief in support of California's marriage case.) But reason and facts never stop a religious conservative like Kurtz from repeating inaccuracies that help mobilize anti-marriage equality sentiment. In a 2006 article he cops to his strategy. "Gay marriage undermines marriage... okay, I admit it. I'm a cranky, stick-in-the-mud conservative who keeps making the same tired old point." And an incorrect point, I might add.

Dobson's dire warnings about gay marriage persist. A key component of Focus on the Family's financial and psychological empire is attacking LGBT people and our marriages in particular. Daniel Karslake's brilliant 2007 film, For the Bible tells Me So,  lays bare the hypocrisy of Dobson and his cohort of religious conservatives. As they rake in millions of dollars each year, they cite a couple of Biblical passages that they claim demonstrate that homosexuality is wrong.  Meanwhile they ignore repeated passages admonishing all of us to give our money to the poor. Mega-millionaire preachers do not do the work of Jesus. But the Bible tells them that they are righteous and we are not. Karslake's film challenges the empire.

Over 10,000 same-sex marriages in Massachusetts also present a challenge. We have had a "reality" show running here. Our marriages are succeeding. Even though we do not have the federal benefits that are critical for all families, LGBT families in 2008 are more secure socially, psychologically, and financially. Massachusetts still has the lowest divorce rate in the country and heterosexual marriage statistics have not plummeted.

The folks who keep saying that Democrats should not say anything about marriage equality, reproductive rights, and separation of church and state, have been profoundly short sighted. Everyone knew that the California decision was coming and what the likely outcome would be.

Fortunately, there are powerful arguments and accomplished activists here in Massachussetts. We are a source of stength for progressives and for the Democratic Party.

Nervous pols should know that although the state and national religious right did their best, no pro-marriage equality state legislator lost his or her seat, and a number of additional pro-equality legislators were elected. Whats more, in 2006 Deval Patrick, an articulate and unapologetic proponent of marriage equality was elected by lop sided margins in the Democratic primary and general election for governor.  Part of the lesson is that is important to stand up to the fear mongering.

A new era has begun.

The Boston Globe reports that veterans on both sides of the battle of Massachusetts are ready to help in California. But whatever else you may hear remember one thing. In Massachusetts, we won. We beat the Religious Right decisively.

Governor Deval Patrick alluded to lessons learned in a statement he issued on the ruling.

"Our experience in Massachusetts has taught us that whenever we affirm the right of people to come before their government as equals, we all win," Patrick said. "I congratulate the California court for upholding that principle."

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that people focus on and see what we have here in Massachusetts, and that marriage equality is good, and it's good for same-sex couples, and it's good for the Commonwealth," said Marc Solomon, the executive director of MassEquality, a leading group in support of gay marriage. "It's important that people take a close look at the one place that has it and learn from our example."

It is also important to recognize, that although the GOP may try to make this an issue, it puts McCain between a rock and a hard place. As I told Inter Press news Service (IPS):

"His stance that the definition of marriage should be up to the states, in the view of much of the religious right, is an unacceptable de facto decision in favour of gay marriage. They view it as his striking a pose kind of opposed, without actually doing anything to stop it."

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