LGBT
Related: About this forumWhitewashing Gay History
Liberals applaud themselves for championing gay marriage. But there are ghosts at the weddings.
Compared with the other civil-rights battles in America, especially the epic struggle over race that has stained and hobbled the nation since its birth, the fight over gay equality is remarkable for its relative ease, compact chronology, and the happiness of its pending resolution. Theres no happier ending to any plot than a wedding. But, as last Junes celebration has gradually given way to morning-after sobriety, its also clear that something is wrong with this cheery picture. Two things, actually.
The first is obvious: Full equality for gay Americans is nowhere near at hand. One of Americas two major political parties is still hell-bent on thwarting and even rolling back gay rights much as Goldwater Republicans and Dixie Democrats (on their way to joining the GOP) resisted civil-rights legislation and enforcement in the sixties. In most states, sexual orientation can still be used to deny not only marriage but also jobs and housing, as well as to curtail adoption rights. Americas dominant religions remain largely hostile to homosexuality, and Americas most cherished secular pastime, professional sports, is essentially a no-gay zone. The bullying of gay and transgendered children remains a national crisis. While Nielsen tells us that gay concerns and characters are the new mainstream of televisionfiguring in 24 percent of broadcast prime-time programming last seasonwe do not yet live in the United States of Glee.
The second thing thats wrong with the picture is far less obvious because it has been willfully obscured. In the outpouring of provincial self-congratulation that greeted the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, some of the discomforting history that preceded that joyous day has been rewritten, whitewashed, or tossed into a memory hole. Weand by we, I mean liberal New Yorkers like me, whether straight or gay, and their fellow travelers throughout Americawould like to believe that the sole obstacles to gay civil rights have been the usual suspects: hidebound religious leaders both white and black, conservative politicians (mostly Republican), fundamentalist Christian and Muslim zealots, and unreconstructed bigots. Whats been lost in this morality play is the role that many liberal politicians and institutions have also played in slowing and at some junctures halting gay civil rights in recent decades.
Fearless
(18,421 posts)It needs to be followed up by other steps, statewide and nationally. You are very right that we shouldn't take this as the end all and be all and that we shouldn't be complacent in our rights.
CAPHAVOC
(1,138 posts)I never knew that. Re the marriage. I think it is same sex with no Gay requirement. But I may be wrong. I just think everyone should mind their own business.