Yeah, I know, like DU needs my two cents out of the several hundreds of dollars worth of opinions that have been offered up today, but here it is anyway, if anyone cares.

I'd just like to point out that one of the achievements that we most proudly point to as a party was the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. When Lyndon Johnson signed it into law, he said "Well, we've just lost the South for 30 years."

He was both right and wrong. He was right in that all the Dixiecrats - a core part of the Democratic party's majority in the mid 20th century - defected to the Republican party in protest over civil rights. He was wrong, however, about the time frame - 42 years after the Civil Rights Act, the South is still solidly Republican, for a variety of reasons - but historically, the Civil Rights Act was the trigger that forced the big switch from D to R.

While the decision to sign into law civil rights for African-Americans probably lost the Democratic party key electoral support in the ensuing 40 years, it remains one of our party's brightest shining moments because it was the right thing to do.

At no time should we be intimidated from doing the right and moral thing because of the backlash from bigots. Bigots will be bigots, and most of them already vote Republican. The decision in New Jersey today was a victory for America and for human rights, and let's be the party that stands UP for human rights - not because it's politically expedient or wins the most votes, but because it's the right thing to do.