July Fourth reflections: Our view

Correction: An earlier version of this editorial misstated the Senate majority party in 2013.

Remember those who serve, protect

Two years ago Tuesday, 19 firefighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshots were burned to death fighting an out-of-control wildfire in central Arizona.

"Hotshots" battle fires with chainsaws and shovels, protected only by their wits and — as a last resort — special tent-like shelters that can withstand flames to about 500 degrees. But wildfires burn as hot as 1,500 degrees, and when luck runs out, the shelters are where people burn to death, which is what happened to the Granite Mountain group.

The hotshots were in the news again this week because their families settled with the state, some for as little as $10,000. Nobody gets rich fighting wildfires, or from dying on the job.

Of course, that's not why anyone does it. As Americans celebrate the Fourth of July weekend at beaches, picnics and parades, it's worth pausing to honor the people who put themselves in harm's way to defend our freedoms or keep us safe. People like the U.S. troops on convoy duty Tuesday in Afghanistan, who were attacked by a suicide car bomber. Or the U.S. forces in Iraq assisting in the battle against Islamic State terrorists. Or, at home, the hotshots battling this summer's Western wildfires.

At a time when the news is often full of what's wrong with America, these heroes remind us what's right.

Ruling on same-sex marriage leaves a logical next step

A week after the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal everywhere, much of the national conversation is still about whether the court dispensed overdue justice or grossly exceeded its proper role.

But the policy debate seems less compelling after a look at the pictures of sheer joy on the faces of the men and women who were finally free to wed. Men such as Michael Benjamin and Earl Robin, one of the first gay couples to marry in Louisiana. Anyone who has been to a wedding has seen that look, and it's hard not to smile back. Both were born about 40 years ago into a world of harsh prejudice against African Americans and gays, and particularly against gay African Americans.

Modern science has concluded that sexual orientation, like race, is genetically determined, and the court held that it deserves the same constitutional protection afforded to other immutable characteristics.

It's entirely appropriate that the high court's huge step forward for personal liberty came as Americans prepare to celebrate the anniversary of the nation's declaration of freedom. The court's reasoning, however, points to a large piece of unfinished business.

While it's broadly illegal to discriminate against people based on race, religion, gender, age or disability, that's not true for sexual orientation. Many states and cities have enacted laws to protect gays and lesbians, but most have not. It's still perfectly legal in many parts of the USA to refuse to rent an apartment or sell a house to a gay or a lesbian, or to fire or refuse to hire someone because of sexual orientation.

The logical next step is to fix that, and Congress has come surprisingly close. In 2013, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a bill to bar discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace, 64-32. Later that year, though, the bill died in the House, and it hasn't been resurrected. It should be.

Cuba shift can expand liberty

It is fitting that the United States and Cuba would announce plans to open embassies in each other's capitals in the days leading up to July 4. That is because the evolving relationship between the two nations has the real potential to expand freedom.

At the very least, Americans will be freer to go to Cuba to see relatives, or merely to visit. And, possibly, the diplomatic thaw will lead to greater liberties for the Cuban people.

For more than 50 years, U.S.-imposed sanctions have helped the Castro brothers stay in power while dictators elsewhere have come and gone. The Castros have been able to blame the United States for their country's ailing economy and for their own leadership failures.

A flood of visiting Americans — with their money, their engaging informality and their expectation of being able to travel freely — might well cause Cubans to further question the the value of the Castro regime. The lifting of sanctions and expansion of trade would do even more.

In his embassy announcement Wednesday, President Obama aptly explained his thinking: "We don't have to be imprisoned by the past." Unlike Cuba, the U.S. is a free country. When Cuba becomes one remains to be seen. Even so, the new policy toward Havana can't possibly be any less effective than the old one.

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