Everyone is chomping at the bit to write about the recent
SCOTUS decision to legalize same sex marriage nationwide. And, why not?
It’s national news, right?
Before I go any further, I want to let my readers know that
I am 100% supportive of this new law. But
as great as this moment is for same-sex couples, the fact that it is considered
news is sad to me. Humanity has taken
such a negative turn over the years, that we accept this as a huge win. The reality is that it should have never been
a fight in the first place.
I’m going to take you inside my “everything is perfect”
bubble. Here are three things I see at
the end of the rainbow.
I see the day where there is no LGBT “community”. Before you get up in arms, hear me out. The word “community” describes a sense of
togetherness. However, in recent years,
community has been used to segregate different types of people. In addition to the “LGBT” community, we have
the “black” community, the “hispanic” community, the “polyamorous” community, and
the list goes on. While I understand the
natural inclination to gather amongst people with similar backgrounds, I think
creating sub-divisional groups, however unintentionally, is a path that could make coming together
extremely difficult in the future. If we
all want the same rights, we need to cross these communal boundaries and start making
real attempts to understand each other so that we know how to fight for each
other. I think this SCOTUS decision was
a small example of that. But in my opinion,
we need to work harder at becoming one human community.
I see the day where there is no more struggle, no more
bullying, no more teen suicides from the pressures of being gay. One thing I learned on my first real job was
to “think outside of the box”. However,
in high school, teens put anyone who is unfamiliar to them inside a box-cool,
nerd, jock, slut. Adding gay, bi-sexual,
transgender to an already mounting list of “flaws” that a student can potentially
have does no good for the bully or the one being bullied. Kids bully based on
fear, so it’s up to us as parents to address their fears in order for them to
see inside each person they meet without judgement.
I see the day where a human being doesn’t have to “come out
of the closet” to anyone-publicly or privately.
In today’s world, straight people don’t have to make announcements that
they are straight. When a celebrity is
straight, it’s not national news. No
attention is paid to a straight person’s mannerisms, how he is dressed, who he is
hanging out with. It simply doesn’t
matter. So, what I wish for everyone is
that your life matters to you and those who love you, and that everyone else
walking by you on the street doesn’t think to care.
Of course, the vision in my bubble is easier said than
done. Do we have to march on Capitol
Hill to get what we want? Do we have to
write letters to our congressman? Do we
have to start petitions? Sure, these
things can help. But first, I think we
all can take little parts of our dreams about how we see the world and guide
ourselves and our children towards understanding them, accepting them and
finding the gold at the end of our rainbow.
