Gay Rights - No! Not the effing meme, k?
Finally, I was able to organize my thoughts. As usual, I wasn't planning on it; it just kinda spewed in a comment on someone else's journal.
I dislike that meme and haven't posted it. It was worded rather the way I imagine the Gestapo would have worded some of their directives, back in the day. First, I loathe the term 'gay rights'. We're not asking for rights that nobody else has. We're asking for the same rights everyone else already has.
Specifically, from my point of view, the most important right (that I don't have at this point)is the right to legally marry the person of my choice. The government says my choice is limited to men. That's unacceptable to me, as I'm a lesbian. Granted, I have a rather specific, personal view of 'gay rights'. If I wasn't gay, I might not feel so strongly about marriage rights, but I am, so I do. Having been married to a man previously, the differences between 'legally married' and 'not legally married' are starkly evident to me. I realize there are other rights that are just as important, and I'm in favor of those rights being extended to us, too. It's just that the marriage thing hits me where I live.
I'm delighted to know that so many people on my f-list are in favor of equality for all people. It warms the cockles of my cranky and antisocial little heart. Seriously.
Here's what I think about equality for LGBT people, as posted to a comment in![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
wolfiekins's journal.
That meme worked a nerve on me, too. I didn't post it. If people can't figure out from my profile (and my charming icon *g*) that I'm in favor of equal civil rights for all people, I probably don't want to know 'em. I did post a nifty banner I found as a result of said meme, but that's it.
It's easy to get frustrated over the seeming lack of progress on the civil rights front. But think about it a minute. Stonewall happened in 1969, just before my second birthday. That's where I (and most historians) mark the beginning of the fight for 'gay rights'. I hate that term, and prefer 'equality for LGBT people' in its place, but you know what I mean, yes? In thirty seven years we've come a very long way. The LGBT community has gone from being the people that self styled 'decent folk' never ever talked about or acknowledged the existence of to being a pervasive presence in the world; in politics, in business, in economics, in popular culture, in slash fanfic *g*, and almost everywhere else you look. Hell, some denominations of Christianity even accept us, and we have our very own denomination, too. We can marry in many places (OK, about ten countries, maybe less) around the globe, and it's no longer illegal in the US for a person to be homosexual, by virtue of the United States Supreme Court ruling in 2003.
It took a hundred and two years from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the end of the ban on interracial marriage, handed down by the United States Supreme Court (Loving vs Virginia) in 1967. Before 1967, the United States had a patchwork of interracial marriage laws, varying from state to state, much as we have now for gay and lesbian marriage/domestic partnership laws. It took longer than a hundred and two years for there to be significant gains in racial equality; we were well into the seventies before there was anything that even approached true equality going on there. I think we're doing things backward, but it seems to be working. Thirty five years ago, nobody would have blinked when Matthew Shepherd was killed. Thirty five years ago, anyone who publicly came out of the closet at a press conference would have likely been stoned to death. Then lynched to be sure the stoning worked properly.
Are we done fighting? No. Will we ever be? Not until I can legally marry my wife in every state in the Union and every country in the world. Commitment ceremonies are well and good and they serve a purpose, but until I get the same tax breaks every other married couple gets, we're not equal. I can approximate the rights and responsibilities of marriage...with two thousand dollars worth of legal documents. Even then, we still can't file joint tax returns. Even then, if the authorities so choose, she's not considered my legal next of kin. Even then, I can be banned from her hospital room, not notified if she's in an accident. Even then, I can only add her to my health insurance, and vice versa, if the company I work for is enlightened. Even then, her family could swoop in and take over (if they weren't terrified of me) if she passed away before me (unlikely, as I'm older, but possible). Even then, my parents could have chosen to fight me for custody of my children, and won, when our relationship was made public. Until all those things, and many many more, are no longer true, we're not equal. But we're getting there, much faster than anyone ever anticipated.
I think that's what pisses off the Religious Reich so much. Despite their best efforts, and their undeniable ability to prevent us from legally marrying one another at this time, they're still losing their fight. Badly.
I dislike that meme and haven't posted it. It was worded rather the way I imagine the Gestapo would have worded some of their directives, back in the day. First, I loathe the term 'gay rights'. We're not asking for rights that nobody else has. We're asking for the same rights everyone else already has.
Specifically, from my point of view, the most important right (that I don't have at this point)is the right to legally marry the person of my choice. The government says my choice is limited to men. That's unacceptable to me, as I'm a lesbian. Granted, I have a rather specific, personal view of 'gay rights'. If I wasn't gay, I might not feel so strongly about marriage rights, but I am, so I do. Having been married to a man previously, the differences between 'legally married' and 'not legally married' are starkly evident to me. I realize there are other rights that are just as important, and I'm in favor of those rights being extended to us, too. It's just that the marriage thing hits me where I live.
I'm delighted to know that so many people on my f-list are in favor of equality for all people. It warms the cockles of my cranky and antisocial little heart. Seriously.
Here's what I think about equality for LGBT people, as posted to a comment in
wolfiekins's journal. That meme worked a nerve on me, too. I didn't post it. If people can't figure out from my profile (and my charming icon *g*) that I'm in favor of equal civil rights for all people, I probably don't want to know 'em. I did post a nifty banner I found as a result of said meme, but that's it.
It's easy to get frustrated over the seeming lack of progress on the civil rights front. But think about it a minute. Stonewall happened in 1969, just before my second birthday. That's where I (and most historians) mark the beginning of the fight for 'gay rights'. I hate that term, and prefer 'equality for LGBT people' in its place, but you know what I mean, yes? In thirty seven years we've come a very long way. The LGBT community has gone from being the people that self styled 'decent folk' never ever talked about or acknowledged the existence of to being a pervasive presence in the world; in politics, in business, in economics, in popular culture, in slash fanfic *g*, and almost everywhere else you look. Hell, some denominations of Christianity even accept us, and we have our very own denomination, too. We can marry in many places (OK, about ten countries, maybe less) around the globe, and it's no longer illegal in the US for a person to be homosexual, by virtue of the United States Supreme Court ruling in 2003.
It took a hundred and two years from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the end of the ban on interracial marriage, handed down by the United States Supreme Court (Loving vs Virginia) in 1967. Before 1967, the United States had a patchwork of interracial marriage laws, varying from state to state, much as we have now for gay and lesbian marriage/domestic partnership laws. It took longer than a hundred and two years for there to be significant gains in racial equality; we were well into the seventies before there was anything that even approached true equality going on there. I think we're doing things backward, but it seems to be working. Thirty five years ago, nobody would have blinked when Matthew Shepherd was killed. Thirty five years ago, anyone who publicly came out of the closet at a press conference would have likely been stoned to death. Then lynched to be sure the stoning worked properly.
Are we done fighting? No. Will we ever be? Not until I can legally marry my wife in every state in the Union and every country in the world. Commitment ceremonies are well and good and they serve a purpose, but until I get the same tax breaks every other married couple gets, we're not equal. I can approximate the rights and responsibilities of marriage...with two thousand dollars worth of legal documents. Even then, we still can't file joint tax returns. Even then, if the authorities so choose, she's not considered my legal next of kin. Even then, I can be banned from her hospital room, not notified if she's in an accident. Even then, I can only add her to my health insurance, and vice versa, if the company I work for is enlightened. Even then, her family could swoop in and take over (if they weren't terrified of me) if she passed away before me (unlikely, as I'm older, but possible). Even then, my parents could have chosen to fight me for custody of my children, and won, when our relationship was made public. Until all those things, and many many more, are no longer true, we're not equal. But we're getting there, much faster than anyone ever anticipated.
I think that's what pisses off the Religious Reich so much. Despite their best efforts, and their undeniable ability to prevent us from legally marrying one another at this time, they're still losing their fight. Badly.