In an open letter to her brother (and conservative firebrand) Newt last week, Candace Gingrich, who is an out lesbian, took him to task for his anti-gay positions: "The truth is that you're living in a world that no longer exists. I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as – and we embrace what it can be. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past. Welcome to the 21st century, big bro."
Welcome indeed.
In 2004, the GOP's Federal Marriage Amendment, seeking to ban same-sex marriage nationally, failed for the first time; in 2006, it failed for the second time. It has been reintroduced this year; it will fail again – if it even makes it to a vote.
By August of 2005, only a year after 11 states banned same-sex marriage by ballot, a Pew Research poll found that 53% of Americans supported same-sex civil unions (and 35% of those supported full marriage equality). It was also a year after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage – and the state had had an entire year to explode, but hadn't.
In this year's Democratic primary, both of the candidates who fought it down to the wire – Obama and Clinton – supported the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the military policy against openly serving gay and lesbian soldiers, as well as the repeal, in part or whole, of the Defence of Marriage Act, which allows states to refuse to recognise same-sex marriages performed in other states and prevents the federal government from recognising same-sex marriages.
Clinton, in an interview with the Philadelphia Gay News, spoke among other things about making global gay rights an active "part of American foreign policy," which President-elect Obama will, one hopes, give presumed secretary of state Clinton the freedom to do.
As previously mentioned, the Obama transition team's job application form includes both sexual orientation and gender identity, marking the first time for those inclusions in a federal non-discrimination policy.
Outside of government, the 21st century looks like a different world as well. This year, People magazine has featured on its cover Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's wedding and Clay Aiken's coming out story; last August, they featured Lance Bass's coming out story. Two stars of current sitcoms, Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Wanda Sykes (The Old Adventures of New Christine) have come out. An abundance of creative competition reality shows – from Bravo's Project Runway, Top Chef, Top Design, and Shear Genius, to Lifetime's Blush: The Search for the Next Great Makeup Artist, to CW's America's Next Top Model, to Fox's So You Think You Can Dance – routinely feature gay and lesbian contestants, mentors/judges, and guests.
Advertising is getting cracks in its oh-so-straight veneer, too, as Levi's has introduced gay advertising to some markets and Chemistry.com has made a centerpiece of its campaign gay couples and gays being rejected by competitor eHarmony.
And as for that bastion of Christian het-love, eHarmony, they settled out of court when sued for not accommodating same-sex couples – who will now be granted their own separate-but-equal (ahem) dating site called Compatible Partners. How romantic!
The 21st century hasn't been, of course, all rainbows and planets full of unicorns, though. Violence against the LGBTQI community has increased. Battles for basic equality are still being fought across the country. November 4 dealt a serious blow to the LGBT community and their allies, as California's Prop 8 (rescinding marriage equality), Arizona's Prop 102 (banning same-sex marriage), Florida's Amendment 2 (banning same-sex marriage), and Arkansas' Act 1 (banning adoption by unmarried couples) all passed.
But there are silver linings: Hate crimes are now more frequently reported and taken seriously by law enforcement, thanks to programs like DC's award-winning gay and lesbian liaison unit. National employment non-discrimination is making headway. Of the ballot initiatives passed on November 4, only one passed by double digits: Act 1 in Arkansas, a state whose former governor goes on national television to argue that gays haven't suffered enough violence to be afforded civil rights equality. Arizona's Prop 102 passed by only 8% in a state where conservatives turned out in droves to vote for their senator, who was the Republican presidential nominee. California's Prop 8 and Florida's Amendment 2 passed in squeakers: by only 2.3% and 2.4%, respectively. And the California state supreme court is already set to hear challenges to the constitutionality of Prop 8.
Election day was a setback, but progress is on our side. On November 12, Connecticut joined Massachusetts and legalised same-sex marriage.
Give the 21st century a couple more years to realize its potential, that new world that Candace so rightly sees. Her hope is the future; her equality our collective inevitability. Newt and his phobic brethren are dinosaurs – and they've got no place in the public sphere anymore. They belong in a museum, with the rest of the relics of a bygone age.