Commentary: Historic Day Today for Civil Rights – Beginning of a New Era

Today the state legislature in Vermont became the first state legislature to pass a law recognizing same-sex marriages. As the New York Time article states below, Vermont is: "the first state to allow same-sex marriage through legislative action instead of a court ruling."

This is really the beginning of a major new era in US history, not just for gays and lesbians, but for all minority groups. Americans are showing, by their willingness to elect a Black US President, and by their willingness to accept the concept of same-sex marriage, that we are finally breaking free from the backwards thinking that has dominating American life and American politics for decades and even centuries. America is now making the gradual shift from its (partially) anti-intellectual roots from the 1600's, to an advanced, democratic society.

This means that it's only a matter of time before Deaf rights become explicitly recognized. So far the concept of Deaf rights has been blurred due to the obfuscations of the Harkin era within Deaf politics and the illogical mixing of the concept of disability (which is clearly a pathological concept) and the concept of being culturally Deaf. Now, with the advent of the Unity for Gallaudet protest in 2006 and the subsequent educational reform movement, the stage is set for ending the Harkin era and finally breaking free toward an authentic and rational view of the Deaf experience.

Anyone who attended the Audism Free America rally last week who saw the intensity and looks of determination on the faces of the protesters, and especially the protest leaders during some intense and historic moments, will understand that a new era in Deaf civil rights is at hand. It's only a matter of time now before a major breakthrough is made, and it's difficult to predict in advance where that breakthrough might be, because when it happens it will be contingent upon the exact flow of events within the larger political circumstances.

Finally(!), now 21 years after DPN, the historical tide will start moving in the direction that it was supposed to move before it was diverted. On the late evening of March 13, 1988, DPN student leader Jerry Covell was explaining to reporters that he wanted to spearhead a Deaf civil rights movement in the United States. That movement never materialized because it was usurped by Senator Harkin, Frank Bowe, and I. King Jordan and turned into a "do anything but hear" campaign that was, in spite of the rhetoric, actually a thinly disguised form of the pathological view of deafness draped in different garb – a kind of a mentality that would cause Laurent Clerc to be rolling in his grave.

Rest in peace Laurent! Let's roll!

Here is today's New York Times article (CLICK HERE)