So what?

As this editorial is being written Texans are pulling levers (or touching screens or, Heaven forefend, punching ballots). On that ballot is the latest anti-gay marriage amendment and it will likely pass. In Maine voters are deciding whether or not to repeal an LGBT civil rights law.
As LGBTs in Michigan know, it sucks to have our very lives on the ballot. It's pretty painful, actually, especially when we lose. It's hard not to take it personally. And it's hard to hear pro-gay pundits talk about "losing forward," the notion that today's losses push us that much closer to tomorrow's wins.
But it's true. We may have lost all 11 marriage amendment battles last November, including one in this state, but as a result of those debates millions of Americans were hearing the words "gay" and "lesbian" over and over and seeing same-sex couples who looked and acted a lot like, well, them. Millions of Americans saw gay and lesbian families on their televisions, in their newspapers and in their neighborhoods in a way they'd never seen them before: demystified and, largely, mundane.
While that may not have won us results at the polls, it did win us a lot of new allies, albeit silent ones. People all across the country are starting to think about gays and lesbians in a whole new way: with indifference.
Granted we won a lot of positive outspoken allies along the way as well, but when it comes to winning the battle for equality the "so what" crowd will make the difference.
Because, right now more and more people are reacting to the debate over marriage equality and LGBT rights with "So what?" They may not actively support us. They may have even voted against us at the polls. But over time the right wing's myopic focus on gays seems more and more ridiculous and mean-spirited in the face of much bigger problems.
Right-wing Republicans who owe a chunk of their success to the boot marks they've left on the backs of gays are in the process of imploding. The White House is awash with scandal and indictments. The Iraq war is a tragic disaster. New Orleans is still a mess. Home heating costs are rising. More and more Americans are slipping into poverty. Pensions are drying up as corporations go bankrupt.
In the face of all of this, Republicans are dusting off the Marriage Protection Amendment again. Actively trying to stop Mark from calling John his husband and nixing Sandra's ability to provide health insurance to Angie in the face of all this is criminal.
As more and more Americans start saying, "Enough with the gays! What about my needs?" we will see a shift. Politicians who worked so hard against our families will not be reelected. The anti-gay industry will lose steam. It's a losing proposition for them. As more and more Americans see gays and lesbians as a non-issue we'll no longer be fuel to fire up the base.
That's not to say we should stop fighting or become complacent. Just the opposite. But there's hope on the horizon, even if that horizon often seems very far away.