The Arc of the Moral Universe Bends toward Justice

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The Arc of the Moral Universe Bends toward Justice

March 8th, 2016

Awake Goy

In the fight for equality for LGBT people, understanding and fairness seem to be winning.

Rebecca Isaacs, Executive Director of Equality Federation, recently reported in States of Equality that fear and discrimination are losing and fairness and understanding are winning. She indicated that this is the case despite a regressive wave in segments of the country intent on denying or rolling-back progress in civil rights. Her report specifically focuses on the civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) persons.

Executive Director Isaacs listed several examples of recent political actions to support her contention: In West Virginia, legislation that could have been used to discriminate against LGBT people was blocked primarily due to an emotional appeal for a civil rights amendment by Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael. Two lawsuits have been filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging anti-gay discrimination. Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota vetoed a bill that was considered by civil- rights advocates to be transgender-discriminatory legislation. There is a groundswell of opposition to several bills in the Georgia legislative process that many believe to be anti-LGBT.

In the current presidential race an increasing number of influential persons are speaking out against the racial, religious and ethnic discriminatory rhetoric that has often been articulated. Former Governor Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain have in effect warned of the danger of electing a person to the Office of President who plays to the fears and insecurity of people and does not have the proper temperament to be the leader of our nation. Civil rights leaders across the country are on guard against voter suppression and other acts that threaten the hard won liberties of minorities.

In a sermon entitled, Of Justice and the Conscience, published in 1853, the Abolition Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker wrote: “Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye [sight] reaches but [a] little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight…But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

To Reverend Parker’s statement, the lead character of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series, Captain Jean-Luc Picard would reply: “Make it so!”