How you create change in a country

I think what most people are missing about the vote today is that this is not a law intended to destroy homophobia in the country in the next three or four years.

It would be nice if that were the effect, but unless the far right (and even the centre-right) get a massive personality change in the next few years, it is really not going to happen.

Because you can not change people’s mind by force. You can pass all the laws that you want, but you can not force people to change their opinions.

Racists will always be racists, no matter what laws you pass. And homophobes will always be homophobes, no matter how many laws you pass.

So why pass the law, you might ask?

Well – it is intended to show the way.

Go back two generations to my grandparents’ generation – they were fairly racists as a group (not my grandparents in particular – they were quite liberal, but as a rule the generation that fought in World War II was not the most liberal minded bunch of people, from what I can gather).

And all the laws in the world were not going to change that.

But by introducing the laws when they did, the government of the time set an example for the children of that generation – my parents’ generation.

And for the next generation down – my generation.

And it seems to have worked. I would say the percentage of racists in my generation is pretty tiny, and in the next generation down , it will be even smaller.

So – to continue this thread – I’d say my parents’ generation is kind of less open to gay rights than my generation is (again – not my parents specifically, they are pretty liberal, and they are very proud that tradition continues in to me and my brother), and the next generation and the one after that will be even more open and accepting of equality.

Which is where the laws that gained parliamentary approval today come in – children will see that equal rights are the way to go. Children will see that everyone should be treated equally and fairly. And they will grow up with that knowledge. And they will pass that knowledge on to their children (as my parents passed it on to me).

And that is why laws are passed. Not to change the minds of the population, but to shape the minds of future generations.

Because that is the only way to change things – evolution, not revolution. Genitum non factum.