Is Social Conservatism Ever Proven Right

[Benman]

I have this theory that social conservatives are never proven correct in their views. Instead, they're just a few years behind every legitimate change in societal mores. Examples are women's suffrage, general segregation, and interracial marriage. Each of these issues was something that social conservatives felt very strongly about at the time the issues were coming to a head, but were ultimately proven wrong about. Put another way, social conservatives have been on the trailing, and wrong, edge of every major moral/cultural issue in recent American history. I wonder if gay marriage and other issues will be any different? A social conservative might say, well all those other issues are one thing, but gay marriage is just clearly wrong, and I'll never change my mind. I wonder how many 70 and 80 year olds in America today once said they same thing about interracial marriage but now realize how wrong they were (I hope they do, at least). In fact, I'd bet that for various reasons, interracial marriage was even more offensive to many "mainstream" social conservatives than is gay marriage. So, are social and moral conservatives just perpetually behind the times, or will they one day be proven right?