This evening, we celebrate common sense. We celebrate a governor's ability to listen to everyone, even Mitt Romney, and veto a bill that would allow discrimination in its truest form. But why are we celebrating? Sure, it's a victory in the smallest sense of the word, but is it worth celebrating the fact that the road to this veto was even taken?
Thank God, Allah, Buddha and Cher that the LGBTQ community and its allies were also given a larger victory in the form of a judge in Texas, of all places, finding the state's marriage ban unconstitutional. This ruling, following in the footsteps of recent states like Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia, is more of the "small-step" victory we should be happy about, rather than the "preventing of the 20 steps backward" victory people seem to be so happy about in Arizona.
The true question is whether or not I, or we, believe that Governor Jan Brewer was truly happy or understood the necessity to veto bill SB 1062. She faced pressure from business owners, executives of major companies (like American Airlines), the NFL (who threatened to relocate the 2015 Super Bowl), and Mr. Romney. If that's not a sign of the changing times, I'm not sure what is.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about this veto; but if we, as a community, start becoming excited about "victories" like this, I feel as though we'll lose the momentum that has been coming from the true victories we've seen in our nation, as of late.