ENDA battle a bitter victory
As many of you are aware, this fight over ENDA has divided the lgbt community.
I won't rehash the arguments but to be honest, I can see both sides of the issue.
The passage of ENDA through the House is a great victory. It demonstrates that lgbts have come a long way. It also demonstrates that slowly but surely, the battle for our self-determination is going our way.
On the other hand,
The exclusion of transgendered individuals shows that while we are getting close to victory, we have a long way to go before we can place our feet on the welcome mat of success. As an African-American gay male, I know a little of what it feels like to be omitted for the sake of expediency.
So while my mind is for the passage of ENDA, my heart is with my transgendered brothers and sisters
So what's the solution?
I don't know. I can only offer my opinion of what we need to do next.
Which is we do what we can to resolve the friendships online and otherwise that some of us lost due to this disagreement over ENDA.
And we continue to move forward, educating each other and ourselves over this fight for self determination.
Why, should I, ever support gay right6s again. Why should I back people who trash me, say hateful and mean things about me, and deny my identity and humanity so that they can get rights at my expense?
ReplyDeleteWhy?
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." - Frederick Douglass
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