Staying the Course To Full Equality

There is momentum in our society today where inroads are being made for acceptance , especially under the law, to recognize gays , lesbians, transgender and all LGBT people as equals when it comes to rights. It is easy , especially in our community, to ease our personal efforts or to to give the fight to someone else to handle and in some cases to simply “poopoo” the whole thing like it does not really affect you. Despite these positive trends, it requires even more diligence and more involvement on our part, because these winds of change will only make opponents more virulent in their efforts to destroy any headway made and reverse any progress. This is proven in previous civil rights efforts and human rights events.

I am particularly passionate and some of the most prominent places where you see this is on my Facebook page where I have chosen to highlight articles, gay culture, pictures , and other things that run the gamut of political articles to pop culture, to gay eye candy, to my own life, to show the world the spectrum of who we are, at least through my experiences. It is not filtered, to a large degree, because I believe in transparency. I hope it helps to bring down barriers and that it also helps people to get use to seeing the LGBT lifestyle in such a way that it simply is part of everyday life and the human experience.

I believe in marriage equality simply because it equates to the recognition of equal rights. It symbolizes in our country acceptance as citizens to full access under the law. Now individuals can choose to be married or not. That is their right. Now some in my LGBT community have argued about the whole marriage thing as a religious and antequated institution that has been forced into our government legal system. Now that may be so, but that is a whole other debate and can be taken up elsewhere. Right now, Marriage Equality is a tool to give the LGBT citizenry full equality under the law. It helps us break the glass ceiling and opens the door , legal wise to many other things.

As with other things , it becomes the impetus for social change which takes longer even after laws pass and a may take a couple of generations to change the hearts of some. So be it. This is the journey but it has to get started. In the meanwhile, we cannot simply lay dormant and be bystanders. Any involvement and all voices are needed. Everyone in this community must stay the course.

I remember my parents talk about being children, incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II Guam. There was no freedom. Their captors treated them like non-entities. They lost siblings and loved ones in such harsh and inhuman conditions. They were human beings who were seen less than human.

I think of those stories as I think of our fight for equality. No religion, no government, no majority can or should ever do the same to us simply because of who we choose to love. Let us stay the course and ride this momentum of change until we win the fight. Full equality is worth it.