How Far Have We Come?
Sunday night, I watched a special on MSNBC called Rebellion – Stonewall. It was a brief history of Gay Rights in the United States since the beginning of the gay rights movement in New York City in 1969. It all seemed like ancient history, though it is all within my political lifetime. Change in America has happened, and is continuing: historic change blindingly fast, and we are wrestling with the results today.
First, America has come so far, from punishing homosexuality as a crime and putting gay people in jail fifty years ago, we are reaching a time of legal equality. From forcing LGBTQI folks to stay “in the closet” or risk being shunned by family and society, we live now at a time when they can “be themselves” in the open. Fifty years ago, the whole “rainbow” of sexual orientations beyond heterosexuality was defined as “mental disorder” by psychiatrists in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders; today psychiatry accepts the differences as part of “normal.”
It’s not all over though.
Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is a serious candidate for the Democratic nomination for President. He is young at thirty-seven, brilliant, a veteran, and gay. In 2008, Americans were asked if we were ready for an African-American President with Barack Obama. Today, is America ready for a gay candidate for President?
Last week at the Gay Pride events in Columbus, an older man held up a sign saying “Dad Hugs.” He spent the day hugging young LGBTQI folks whose parents have rejected them for their identifications.
Thirty-six years ago the Reverend (sic) Jerry Falwell said: “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”
AIDS was raging through America’s gay men. The Reagan administration, dependent on the Christian Fundamentalist votes that Falwell represented and controlled, did little to stop it. From the beginning of the epidemic around 1980 until 2000, 448,060 died in America from AIDS.
Eight years ago gays were allowed to openly serve in the US military.
Four years ago gay marriage was allowed nationwide. It was just after, that Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and candidate for President, stood beside the Rowan County Kentucky clerk who refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple.
Some say it is about religion, but it is hard to see how anyone’s God could condemn two people finding joy in a relationship and dedicating their lives to each other. As the Columbus Gay Pride parade went by in colorful jubilation, in the background an older man stood with a sign saying “Repent of your Sins.” Their religion is one of judgment and condemnation, and like Reagan before him, Trump is dependent on their support. Rainbow flags were banned by the Administration from US Embassy flagpoles last week.
The fight for LGBTQI equality is not over. There are still legal battles, but more importantly, there are societal issues to resolve. Gays are still discriminated against in housing, insurance, school, work and most of all, in their own homes. Much of America has a long way to go towards racial equality, the same is true for the LGBTQI.
A news host in New York last night constantly referred to Dayton as “…out in Ohio.” “Out here in Ohio,” in “flyover country,” in the “rust belt” and the “middle:” Ohio is struggling with LGBTQI issues. I bet they are in New York City too. Our world, both there and here, has moved so fast that many feel left behind. But even here, “out in Ohio,” society is catching up; growing more accepting, and learning to judge all folks, as Martin Luther King demanded, on the content of their character.
In 2004, if you asked most conservatives or liberals, they would have said that an African-American President was unlikely in the next twenty years. Four years later, America changed. Three years ago, Hillary Clinton, a woman, won the popular vote for President of the United States. Sometimes we don’t know it’s time for change, until the change has already happened.
