This is a post of utter joy.

Vermont, where I lived for many years, has become the first state to legalize gay marriage without the prompting of a court order.  It’s the fourth state overall.

Although it has obviously gotten a lot of national press, I suggest following the coverage in the Rutland Herald, Vermont’s family-owned, independent newspaper, which won the Pulitzer Prize for its editorials in favor of civil unions, which Vermont legalized back in 2000.

I was proudly active in that fight — and this new victory is a great testimony to the compassion and idealism of Vermonters.

It also should be a reminder that this isn’t just about rights – which a court can give and a referendum can take away.

It’s about fostering community. 

It’s about happiness.

All of which brings to mind the poem “When I heard at the close of the day” from Walt Whitman — that great American poet (who happened to be gay).  Even though he was writing back in the middle of the 19th Century, his long, luxurious lines put this moment in just the right context:

When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d,
And else when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy,
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh’d, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light,
When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing bathed, laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way coming, O then I was happy,
O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food nourish’d me more, and the beautiful day pass’d well,
And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening came my friend,
And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly continually up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me whispering to congratulate me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night,
In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast – and that night I was happy.