Can we learn from history?

On my way in to work today, I listened to the story of how two people (Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter) began to start at the University of Georgia 50 years ago. The big deal was that the two mentioned people were black and were the first two black students ever to attend UGA. So on NPR, I listed to the story of Charlayne and what her first days at school were like. I listed to stories of people being just plain ugly. I then began to get angry. What is wrong with us as a people, that we would discriminate based solely on the color of someones skin? Why is different always bad? I live in podunk Colorado, and still have to put up with people like this all the time. Some days I ask why they hate and usually get an answer about being lazy or some other generality. I point out that if "they" are all lazy, then "we" (living in Brush, CO) are probably all inbread and only have 2 teeth. This is normally when one of us in the conversation gets up and leaves. I actually look forward to the day when there are no such things as black people anymore, just people.

This thought then made me think about the current time. 50 years from now, are we going to look back at gay people the same way. The way that current mainstream America hates gay folks and doesn't want them to have any rights that we as a nation take for granted? In 50 years, will there even be an issue on if a marriage certificate is being issued, there is even a sex box to fill in? In 50 years, will my grandkids (or great-grandkids) be thinking about how their grandfathers generation were close minded people that were scared of something different? It is funny to think about things this way, but will we as a nation, actually learn from history or continue to fight the inevitable?