Recently Rob Portman, Senator and perennial presidential candidate wrote an op-ed piece for CNN.  He not only announced a philosophical change in his belief on gay marriage, but also described the intellectual process by which the change occurred.

This is not a piece debating gay marriage, but rather a discussion on breathing room and tolerance for those to change what they believe in.  Some may be skeptical, and we have certainly seen recent accusations of high-level political figures on both sides of the aisle changing their stance solely for political purposes.  That's why the explanation of how his evolution transpired has value.  It doesn't just have value in that it helps us believe him.  It has value because it shows how one's thoughts and emotions can be affected when an important and controversial topic is viewed up close and in real life rather than from a distance.

I have written before about how my views on gay marriage changed maybe 12-15 years ago (certainly a lot sooner than some "intellectually superior" liberals).  We often see those who are the champions of intolerance respond likewise with intolerance.  We live in a more polarized and vitriolic era than I have ever experienced.  We are all empowered to speak, to hate, to be outraged, to criticize, to judge...to attack.  Ideas and speech are squashed more violently now than I've ever seen before in my lifetime.

Some change occurs through protests, law suits and battles in the streets and on the endless wire.  Yet some change occurs merely through education and evolution.  We have to give people room to think, to evolve, to explore thoughts.  Without the development of ideas, without the room to change, it is literally the intellectual evolution of mankind that will be stunted.