Same sex marriage is inevitable - So is an openly atheist president

I started the Calladus Blog in August of 2005.  My 6th post was a prediction that same-sex marriage is inevitable.

It feels good to be this right.

But I got the reasoning slightly wrong.  I said it was inevitable because the children of LGBT individuals or couples grow up to be more accepting of gay people.  The truth is that these young people are open about their parents, and their peers now know that there is nothing special or weird or terrible about being raised by gay parents.

We are at the point now where every young person can point out gay friends or acquaintances, and every soccer mom or baseball dad knows of a gay kid, or a straight kid with gay parents.

Instead of contempt, we have learned that familiarity breeds acceptance.

This, THIS is the power of coming out of "the closet".  It is easy for a person to protest a nameless, faceless "other".  It is much more difficult to shout in absolute terms at someone you know and love.

And this is why the atheist visibility movement is so important.  Richard Dawkin's "Out Campaign", the "Don't Believe in God" billboards hosted by the United Coalition of Reason, and other efforts are necessary to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of atheism.

We have already had our first openly atheist member of Congress - so I'll say now that it is inevitable that eventually we will elect an openly atheist president.  I just don't know if it will happen in my lifetime.