This weekend, Bo Diddley Community Plaza in downtown Gainesville was host to the Pride Festival.
One would be hard-pressed to find a major city without an annual LGBTQ pride festival or parade.
A Gallup poll in May showed that, for the first time, a majority of respondents (53 percent) believed that same-sex marriage should be legal.
The only age group that did not have majority support of legal protections for same-sex marriage were those 55 and older. Still, this group's support increased by six percentage points from the previous year.
This year, the military policy banning homosexuals from openly serving in the military, referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," was officially repealed.
Lately, when opinion polls ask about which issues are most important to Americans, policies toward gays and lesbians, family or marriage issues make up only one to two percent of those on the list.
All of these events are evidence that there is a sweeping change occurring among Americans. Issues such as the lack of jobs, the economy and war are foremost in Americans' minds while social issues just don't matter.
These tough times are probably making people realize that how other people choose to live their lives really does not affect them. People also seem to be realizing that there is a problem with marriage equality in this country.
These trends can even be seen in the most unlikely places.
Rick Santorum, the most outspoken Republican presidential candidate against the issue of same-sex marriage and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," is at the bottom of the polls for the 2012 race.
In every debate, he tries to bring up the issue of family and traditional values, but it obviously is not playing well with GOP voters.
In the last debate, when asked how the GOP would appeal to Latino voters, most candidates brought up the issue of illegal immigration security and reform.
Not Santorum.
For Santorum, attracting Latino voters meant appealing to their understanding that the foundation of America is not "the individual," as Congressman Ron Paul suggested. Instead, the building block of our society is "the family" and faith.
If this were the case, one would assume Santorum's message of traditional family values (code for "not same-sex marriage") would be playing better with GOP voters.
Instead, conservatives, like all Americans, want a candidate who knows how to fix our economic problems, not tell us how to behave in the bedroom or whom we can marry.
Let's hope these winds of change continue to blow us in the right direction.
