The Mixed Bag: Not settling for second class

On the night of Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, LGBT Americans and their supporters had a bittersweet feeling. For the first time in eight years, there would be an ally in the White House by the name of Barack Obama. But for the first time in 4 years, there were sweeping anti-gay bans which passed in California, Arkansas, Arizona and Florida. While the latter three states passage of their propositions was not surprising, Proposition 8's passage in California was.

Same sex marriages had been performed since this summer in California and same sex couples from the young to the old, to the rich and famous (like Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi) to the common man or woman were walking down the aisle to have their relationships and love recognized. On election night, it was decided that the many other couples, like my friend's cousin and his boyfriend who planned to get married this summer, will not get that chance.

Now, I can hear what some of you might be saying: "Well, the voters made this happen, you have to respect their wishes!" I understand that, I do. I also understand, that in this country, people's rights have never been handed to them, they have always been fought for. That is why I am making a plea to the LGBT community and their allies to pay attention. We may have not been paying attention before, but we surely are now.

Over this past weekend, nationwide protests against Proposition 8 and legislation like Prop 8 showed that the LGBT community and their allies were not taking this lightly. However, our voice does not stop with our vote, nor does it stop with these protests. If we are truly going to make a difference, we have to hold our elected officials accountable, protest, write letters to the editor, talk to your friends and neighbors, educate others, but also, most importantly, band together as a community.

Too often, I have seen the LGBT community splinter off because of divisions, drama, and complacency. Yes, the fight is difficult. The road will be long and hard to tread through. We might not see the immediate results of our activism and our work, but future generations will. There are too many issues that are at stake, for our lives and our future.

In North Carolina, it is legal for your employer to fire you because of your gender identity or sexual orientation due to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act not including our community. No one in the LGBT community can serve openly and honorably in the United States military. In North Carolina, same sex couples cannot adopt or legally marry. Many LGBT youth have to be silent about who they are for fear of verbal or physical harassment in the schools, at home, or in their towns and cities. No one should have to fear going to school. Suicide rates and homelessness rates have risen in LGBT youth. We must combat all of this.

To heterosexual individuals who think that LGBT rights are not their concern: you're wrong. Even if you don't know anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, it's not a matter of being gay or straight, its a matter of love. What if one day someone told you couldn't marry your boyfriend or girlfriend, that you could be fired for being straight, that the military wouldn't accept your application because of your sexual orientation, or you couldn't adopt because you were straight?

This is not about special rights, this is about equal rights, and if America truly is the place it was meant to be, then the members of the LGBT community cannot be recognized as second class citizens.