To the editor:

First, I want to express how thrilled I was to see Barack Obama win the election. Not just because he seems like an intelligent and thoughtful person, but because, given the world I knew when I was a kid, it seemed impossible to think we would ever arrive at a day when we, as a nation, would truly judge a man, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.

I cannot say whether Obama will be a great president or a poor one or, like most who preceded him, something in between. It will matter tomorrow, and for four years, and for the rest of our lifetimes. But for now, this week, it does not matter.

As a man I respect said. ‘Today, for a moment, all things are possible.’ Reality will set in, life will intrude, but for one moment, one hour, we can be what we dream.

The point of this letter, though, is not only to reflect for a moment on this milestone, but to recognize that milestones are only markers along a journey. And the journey never ends.

At the same time I was celebrating Obama’s victory, I noticed the result that California voters had banned same sex marriage. I was shocked, disappointed, and dismayed. We have further to go on our journey.

I don’t doubt that the folks voting against same-sex marriage have very closely-held beliefs around this and I respect their right to embrace those beliefs.

But homosexual couples do not have faith that they are gay or lesbian — they ARE gay and lesbian. Even the vice president implicitly acknowledges this fact or his daughter might still be attending boarding school.

In my view, limiting the legal civil rights of another person based on your own personal religious beliefs is just wrong. It is one thing to conduct yourself in a way that matches what you believe is right. It is something else to legislate that others must adhere to your personal belief system as well.

I do not know many gays or lesbians. I am sure that there are things they would like me to understand that I do not understand now. What I do know is that when I first moved to South Whidbey, it was a gay real estate agent who found me a home. When I was ill, it was a lesbian doctor who healed me.

These are people. People with families. People with loving relationships, who deserve the same rights we have to make decisions for incapacitated love ones, to share fully in the benefits they receive from their employers, and to know what a truly special thing it is to live and celebrate publicly a shared commitment.

The road is long, my friends, and we have further to travel. Don’t take your hiking boots off yet. Thanks for listening.

R. Emmet O’Brien

Langley