It has always been impossible to celebrate the anniversary of American independence without taking a step back to examine just how violently our founding ideals have clashed with the realities of our nation’s historical experience. For many Americans, the past has been a constant obstacle they have struggled hard to overcome. Many are still struggling to this day.

Over the past seven months Senators Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton tirelessly campaigned around the country giving millions of people hope that the long struggle for racial/sexual equality may finally be coming to an end. And yet simultaneously their combative campaign styles sometimes played to ugly deep-seeded national prejudices like xenophobia, religious fundamentalism, and homophobia.

The latter is the subject of a recent interview I had with State Senator Ed Murray (D, 43rd LD). In it, he outlines his personal history with the gay rights movement in Washington State, and offers some predictions for the future.

Happy 4th of July! Let freedom ring.

Update: All audio issues have been repaired.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Politics, Washington State. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.