Vermont Leads the Nation

Sending a clear signal that reform starts at the edges, Vermont's people's House enacted legislation to legalize domestic partnerships for gays and lesbians.

It's also another example of people getting decent and humane legislation by engaging with the political process; at least one openly gay Vermont representative was crucial to this success.

The pathetic and facilely predictable response from those who opposed the new legislation include this mind-bender:

``This bill is not about the civil rights of a minority,'' Roman Catholic Bishop Kenneth Angell said in a statement. `This bill is about a minority imposing their concept of morality upon the morality of the majority.''

Sounds an awful lot like the Soutern Republicans who opposed 1960s federal Civil Rights legislation. Just imagine:

"This Voting Act isn't about the civil rights of the black minority. This bill is about black people imposing their concept of morality upon the morality of white people."

Even granting this silly 'criticism' still works out fine for me: a petty, mean and incoherent morality should be replaced with a morality that's humane and just. It's called progress.