While we all, in various ways, wait out the coronavirus outbreak and the Democratic primaries, let's take a short look back in our past. I ran across this short clip of CBS Evening News from June 25, 2016 - the day marriage equality became legal. It's a look back 50 years in the past when CBS News first looked at LGBTQ equality. Back then, it was simply known as gay rights and things were completely different. More closets and more fear.
Granted, the closets and fear still exist, but not as much. In their places are pride and the stubborness which comes from knowing that we are human beings with value and the determination to not be treated less than that. This is not to say that marriage equality is the end of our struggle for rights. It's simply a reminder of where we as a community once were and where we are now. It's also a reminder that where we will be in the future is totally up to us and not those who stand against us.
I never would have believed, when I was a teenager struggling with my sexuality in the context of my religious upbringing, that I would one day be married to a man and celebrating 32 years together this August. I'm not sure I remember that broadcast of 60 minutes in 1967 (I've seen it more recently on YouTube) but I do remember the very frightening article in LIFE Magazine (also from 1967) that I hid under a bureau drawer. As much as I celebrate how far we've come, it still saddens me when I hear about the hatred, bigotry and violence that many LGBT people experience here and now. Thank you for your blog and for keeping the issues before us.
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