GLBT Civil Rights, Equality

I am smack dag in the middle of the convergence of 3 projects, which together include 3 articles and 4 press releases all due to different people within the next day or two.

So, I decided to blog.

I recently attended an event for the South End News. It was a GLBT protest/party.

The protest concerned the fact that gay and lesbian groups (and presumably bisexual and transgender ones as well) were not permitted to march in Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

This decision by parade organizers was then cemeneted by the Supreme Court in 1995. It was decided the organizers had a right to decide who could march.

Aside from having participants like Steve Grossman (former national chair of DNC) and many state legislators in attendance, the event focused on an issue that is growing more near and dear to my heart: equality.

I think it’s very easy to close your eyes to things that matter. There is a lot to do in a day. A lot of respnsibilities–work, children, school, commuting, free time, personal developement, relationships. Sometimes things like the environment (which I’ll get to in a later post) and health care and GLBT rights and hunger and peace and homelessness get lost in the shuffle.

Unlike lawmakers and those in government, we do not devote our day to coming up with better ideas, or bette rules and guidelines.

So it was good, when reporting on this event, to be reminded of the fact that for many people, everywhere, GLBT issues are a huge part of their lives.

They can’t get married, get health benefits, visit each other in the hospital. They aren’t accepted by the community, can’t  get a job where they are harassed, don’t feel safe walking down the street. they can’t march in parades, or declare themselves in the military, or come out without feeling like they’ve somehow disappointed their friends, family or community.

I’m thankful to those who fight this fight daily–who join organizations, who participate protests, who make their voices heard in Congress and across the country.

It’s a hard truth that sometimes, all I can offer is my voice, my encouragement, my promise to debate and discuss with those who need to be swayed. I promise to stand up for what is right and do what I can.

In terms of laws being enacted to support gay marriage, gay rights, I stand behind those.

One man that night, who was running for State Senator to fill Scott Brown’s now-vacant seat, said that he recently spoke with a woman who was enraged that her senator, or lawmaker, axed a referendum that put gay marriage to a vote–she wanted her chance to vote against it.

And this man’s response to her was something like this:, “Since when have American’s ever been allowed to vote on something that should be a basic civil right? It isn’t their place, or their privilege to do so, and I will always axe any referendum that would permit it.”