JESUS WAS IN THE PARADE!

Numbers have meanings. Often 3 is often considered mystic...5 is what you need for a Supreme Court decision...51 for a Senate vote. But how about the number 450,000....?

That's the estimated number of Chicagoans at this week's Gay Parade. A parade which once attracted only a few thousands (including hecklers), now brings out nearly a half million citizens whose very presence tells us we are living an enormous historical shift.

Just as the world shifted its views and values about black cats, witches, voodoo dolls and mental health, increasing majorities are re-positioning themselves about gays and lesbians. Oh, there are still hecklers. And theological zealots. But increasingly, both science and common sense are shouting them down.

This week's parades around the nation were not simply about gay marriage. They were about basic human rights. The right to be who you are, just the way nature and/or God created you.

Every day we -- hecklers as well as advocates -- are learning how the human genetic system has explanations for gays and lesbians no differently than for gifted athletes and astounding geniuses. In Chicago the number 450,000 is a number to remember, for it's the cutting edge of a surge of long-deferred wisdom. As a species we're pretty slow sometime....but eventually we catch up with reality. And, in this case, with truth.

Let me venture a guess. If this were Galilee and if Jesus were alive, he'd have been in the parade. Better yet, my theology tells me he would have been leading the parade. If the hecklers can find where the Messiah ever denounced gays and lesbians, I'd love to see where he said it...!