I congratulate the Massachusetts Supreme Court on waking up to the fact that people who are gay are first and foremost people–deserving of the same benefits that other people in this country receive.
As an individual with a disability, as well as an attorney who concentrates my practice in defending the rights of people with disabilities, I see all too often that courts, legislators and, yes, even our president seem to put the secondary characteristic first–he’s “gay,” she’s “disabled”–as if this somehow makes us less a person. This takes us back to the early, ugly days of our history, when African-Americans were counted as less than a full person, doesn’t it?
I urge our president, legislators and courts to always remember and never forget that all of this country’s citizens are deserving of all its benefits, privileges and protections–no matter what their sexual preference or their disability status.
