It’s 2008, and our society still has made few strides to accepting everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation.

Complete acceptance of the gay community looms somewhere in the horizon, but we can get there sooner if we demand fairness.

Now is the time to push for sexual equality, to make the hard decisions needed for this to happen. No heterosexual person should have a legally-granted privilege that a gay man or lesbian does not have, especially denied protection in the work place and the right to enjoy the legal and financial benefits of a civil union.

This fight for equality has been a rocky road, especially at our Deep South university.

The 1982 Student Government ombudsman, Ron Sigler, attempted to establish a student organization aimed to harass gay people. Although the organization’s formation was barred, the event sparked numerous letters to the editor in The Daily Reveille.

One letter even referred to homosexuality as a disease. It pains me to admit we haven’t come far enough — just look at the response to a Daily Reveille column Sept. 12, 2007, that called for a stand against homosexuality.

Although I still defend the publishing of the column, I have disagreed with the premise of the column.

The column and many of its responses have shown only moderate progress.

And at our University, the lack of understanding and acceptance is deplorable. Perhaps part of the reason for the movement’s glacial pace is society’s emphasis on “traditional” morality. Look at history — homosexuality has been around for a long time, and for many gay people, it is as natural as living and breathing.