Antichoice activists, including Illinois’ former senator Peter Fitzgerald, love to dwell on the supposed parallel between opposing slavery and opposing the right to choose abortion. Turns out there’s another parallel they’d rather forget.
Hat tip to Josh Glenn at Brainiac for tipping me off to Caleb Crain’s blog Steamboats Are Ruining Everything, where he compares the first states to abolish slavery and the first states to legalize gay marriages or civil unions. The first five states to allow gay marriage in some form were Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. All five were among the first nine to abolish slavery (Vermont in 1777).