It won't take 40 years for opposition to same-sex marriage to

Hear now the words of Mary Cheney, spoken with hope forged in courage: “It won’t take 40 years for opposition to same-sex marriage to dissipate.” In these few words lives a prophecy — not of despair, but of progress, of the slow but certain triumph of understanding over fear. Hers is a statement born not only of conviction, but of deep historical awareness. She speaks as one who has seen the arc of history bend — painfully, unevenly, yet inevitably — toward justice. Her faith is not blind optimism; it is the faith of one who knows that truth, once revealed, cannot be forever buried.

The origin of these words lies in the long and arduous struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, a struggle that mirrors humanity’s larger journey toward equality. For centuries, love between persons of the same sex was condemned, hidden, and punished — not because it was unnatural, but because the hearts of men were clouded by ignorance and fear. But as light pierces through darkness, truth has a way of resurfacing. When Mary Cheney, daughter of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, spoke these words, she spoke from within a paradox: the daughter of a conservative family, yet herself a symbol of a new moral awakening. Her statement is not merely political — it is deeply human, born of the conviction that love, being divine, cannot be denied forever by the laws of men.

Her reference to “40 years” is not without meaning. The number forty, in ancient and sacred traditions, has always symbolized a time of trial and transformation — forty days of flood, forty years in the desert, forty days of fasting before revelation. It marks the duration of wandering before arrival, of purging before rebirth. In her words, Cheney evokes this spiritual pattern: humanity’s movement from prejudice to acceptance is itself a pilgrimage through the wilderness of fear. Yet she believes this journey will not take a full generation this time, for humanity has already learned, has already begun to awaken to the truth that love is love, regardless of form or gender.

The history of change shows that hearts can shift faster than laws predict. Consider the tale of Loving v. Virginia in 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage. Before that ruling, many believed such unions would never gain acceptance. And yet, within decades, what once seemed radical became commonplace, and society moved forward. The Loving decision became both symbol and seed — showing that what begins as controversy may end as consensus. Cheney’s words, too, echo that faith: that what once divided will, in time, unite, and that the bonds of love will prove stronger than the walls of prejudice.

When she declares that opposition “will not take 40 years to dissipate,” Cheney gives voice to a truth the ancients knew well: that truth accelerates once it is spoken. In every age, once the light of justice is kindled, it spreads more swiftly than expected. The old fears, though loud, are brittle; they shatter under the weight of lived truth. She speaks not as a dreamer, but as one who has seen the pattern of history — that when a people begin to see one another not as categories, but as fellow souls, the walls crumble with astonishing speed.

And yet, her hope is also a challenge. Change does not come from the mere passage of time, but from the actions of those who believe in it. Her words remind us that progress requires courage — the courage to speak, to stand, and to love openly even when the world resists. Each act of compassion, each conversation grounded in dignity, shortens the journey by years. Every heart that dares to understand hastens the dawn she foretells. The dissipation of opposition is not a miracle that happens on its own; it is the fruit of countless quiet labors of empathy.

Let this be the lesson handed down: love cannot be contained by fear, nor truth by tradition. The wise do not ask whether equality will prevail, but how soon we will awaken to it. To the young and the just, Cheney’s words are a summons — to walk boldly in love’s light, to refuse bitterness, to heal through understanding. Do not despair at resistance, for all that resists change is already fading. Speak gently but firmly, live truthfully, and the walls of division will crumble faster than even prophets expect.

For in the end, as Mary Cheney proclaimed, it will not take forty years — because the heart learns faster now. The world, though weary, moves toward justice more swiftly with each generation. Love, like water, always finds a way. And when it does, it does not ask permission — it simply flows, washing away the remnants of hate, leaving behind a clearer, kinder world.