The historical importance of the assembly vote on same sex marriage this week should not be underestimated.
For the first time a majority vote in favour of passing equality legislation that will bring Northern Ireland in line with both the south and Britain shows that even when all looks hopeless in this weird little place common sense can prevail.
When I say prevail, as we know the use, or abuse in this case, of the petition of concern means that gay couples in Northern Ireland remain unable to marry because of those who use religion as an excuse to deny others their rights.
Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt was correct when told party members they were on the wrong side of history when it came to the equality debate. Despite this he continues to straddle a fence, abstaining during the vote rather than being brave enough to pick a side.
The vote did highlight two very important aspects of our dysfunctional government. The first being that the petition of concern needs scrapped, for it is now constantly being used to block progress. Introduced to ensure any legislation passed did not discriminate against minorities it is being used to routinely discriminate against anyone and everyone who gets in the way of the DUP agenda.
Even small amateur sports clubs that provide a service to thousands of young people were recently denied rate relief as a result of a DUP petition of concern.
This is not what the veto mechanism was intended for and while it may be perfectly legal under the current assembly rules, the rule of law and the spirit of the law in this case are conflicting.
While all this makes for pretty bleak reading the second point highlighted is much more heartening.
For the vote to pass people who had previously voted against same sex marriage had to either change their mind and vote yes or abstain.
That alone shows that the campaign for equality is not hopeless but people can, when presented with a reasonable argument, change their minds.
Among those who voted differently was the Alliance Party's Trevor Lunn.
A man who once opposed same sex marriage is now persuaded that this is an equality and not a faith issue.
I appeared on BBC Sunday Politics at the weekend with Trevor as one of the panel guests. I'm a cynic at heart but I could see he had - to use a reality show cliché - been on a journey.
And for him it was obvious it hadn't been an easy one, but he said in the course of the debate he'd decided this was the right thing to do knowing full well he would face criticism from some for his about turn.
For while those of us that support gay marriage can be frustrated by the outdated attitudes of fundamentalist politicians what Trevor Lunn's change of mind demonstrates is that it's much better to persuade people of the argument rather than force views upon them.
This was again demonstrated by the majority yes vote in the south, made possible by a positive campaign of persuasion that threatened no one faith and was only made possible with the endorsement of people of all sexual orientations, ages and social backgrounds.
And it is for this reason it would have been far more democratic if this week the two main parties, DUP and Sinn Féin, lifted their whip and allowed people to vote with their own conscience.
For there must be, just by the laws of average alone, people in the DUP with gay children or close relatives who would vote yes and possibly a few people in Sinn Féin who may well vote no. But at least we'd know where individual representatives stand when casting our vote in next year's assembly election.
Next week, the first of two legal challenges to the Northern Ireland Executive on same-sex marriage is due to reach the courts and the likelihood is that gay marriage will become law because of a legal ruling rather than a democratic vote.
While it's sad that it had to come to this it will hopefully send a stark message to those, mainly unionist politicians, who remain out of step with society and on the wrong side of history.
