Think about it: Massachusetts is the one state in fifty (and certainly the only commonwealth of the four in the nation) with legal gay marriage. New York doesn't have it. California, that bastion of out-there, Hollywood living, doesn't have it. Even Hawaii, which is about as different from all the other states as anyplace can be, couldn't hold onto it. And although there are those who would say that this unique legal occurrence is further proof of why "Massachusetts liberal" should be an insult requiring no further explanation, Bostonist disagrees. Sure, we're a true-blue state, a bastion of labor unions, social programs, gun control, and all those other quasi-communist bogeymen of Republican nightmares. But we have another reputation, too: we're the prude city the made "banned in Boston" famous, New York's laughable, funny-accented hinterland, the place where you couldn't buy beer on a Sunday until a year ago. We're the big northern city with the longest-lingering race relations problem (not that we should be proud of that), the inclination to drunken brawling, and the inability to behave ourselves after big games. In short, we're not the wine-sipping, French-speaking, quasi-foreign nation we've lately been made out to be. Really, we're pretty damn American, and we're a good example of how a state that is mostly Catholic and basically conservative can be quietly tolerant.
Bostonist thinks having gay marriage is something to be proud of, whether you support it or not. It's like blue laws: Bostonist, being a lush at heart, never liked them and always felt they were unconstitutional (although the courts disagreed). But at the same time, we took a certain perverse pride in hanging on to an antiquated, retrograde tradition. Likewise, our city's streets, with their changing names, poor signage, unpredictable curves, and dead-ends, are a huge pain in the ass. But they're our pain in the ass, and nobody else understands them quite like we do. And as with traffic congestion and weird, pseudo-religious laws, gay marriage is getting worked out. If you're against it, you have your champions in the statehouse and at the SJC. We're arguing civilly about the matter and figuring out what to do, much as we have in the past with abortion, the death penalty, segregation, and any number of other things. (And think about this: At least gay marriage is a complicated, nuanced debate; some states have unusual laws that are totally stupid, like not allowing people to pump their own gas.)
In the mean time, look how well our state is doing overall: our economy is puttering along, crime is down, our standard of living is decent, and even our divorce rate is low. We have two reigning world championship sports teams! We must be doing something right. So, to conservatives, Bostonist says, "be proud of your quirky, left-leaning-but-well-grounded, decidedly working-class state." To liberals, we say, "be proud of your forward-thinking judiciary, your excellent gun-control laws, your traditional-yet-modern commonwealth." And to all the other states, we say, "Ha ha! While you guys sit around worrying about filibusters and judicial nominees and heaven-knows-what-else, we're up here in the rain and cold doing new stuff, figuring things out, and living well. We're obviously the best state in the country."
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