Gay marriage's future lies with DotNet youngsters

A s the gray heads in the U.S. Senate get ready to weigh in again this June on gay marriage, look elsewhere if you want to see the real deciders, as President Bush might call them.

Look to the 21-year-old getting ready to enter law school, the 7-year-old zipping by on a Razor scooter and the 2-year-old doing her first spin around the playground in a convertible Cozy Coupe. Their generation will, I predict, have the final say over full marriage equality for those of us who're gay -- and they'll give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Variously dubbed the DotNets or Millennials, Americans born between 1985 and 2004 are already demonstrating refreshing levels of civic engagement, respect for the power of voting and eagerness to solve problems through team work.

Generations scholar William Strauss, co-author of "Millennials Rising," predicts young people growing up just behind the cynical, disengaged Generation Xers will be "the next great generation."

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OPINION03

but as a Gen-Xer, I take umbrage to the cynical, disengaged characterization.

less engaged.

and it's just not a big deal to them. Many of their friends have two parents of the same gender, and they don't even question it. I **love** it.