The reintroduction of the gray wolf into the Yellowstone Park ecosystem has produced results that many did not envision nearly 20 years ago. The new Yellowstone Park is a metaphor for the balance that exists in the ecosystem we call life; what will occur when all LGBT people are treated equally?
After decades of conflict between ranchers and environmentalists, the gray wolf packs were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho in 1995.
Once the gray wolf was no longer in the ecosystem, elks thrived and the land was grazed to the point that certain trees, grasses and bushes could no longer effectively grow in Yellowstone. The absence of the gray wolf had negatively impacted the ecosystem. In fact, other species were also affected by the gray wolf’s absence; food available to bears, otters, beavers and other wildlife were all affected by the thriving elks that were previously controlled by their natural predator. The result: a much different Yellowstone Park.
Many in the political world have wanted to control the LGBT community by denying us basic rights. Whether it is marriage equality, employment rights or hospital visitation, there are over a thousand rights afforded by the federal government that are not available to every LGBT American. How has that affected the human ecosystem?
It has created a higher incidence of suicide among LGBT youth due to a lack of acceptance by their peers and society. It has created men who are on the “down low” who are afraid to live authentically. It has created self-loathing in some that has led them to support political parties that do not support their equality. It has created a cottage industry of psychiatrists that help people cure the “gay” in them. LGBT equality opponents say they want to protect the family, similar to ranchers wanting to protect their livestock from the gray wolf.
Like the ranchers, LGBT equality opponents are wrong. The gray wolves in Yellowstone Park have made the ecosystem better, just like LGBT people make the human ecosystem better. Once the gray wolves were reintroduced, elk started to graze in areas that were more protected from their predator, not in the open valleys and plains. This allowed the cottonwood and aspen tree population to recover.
With the elk not eating the trees, beavers began to thrive. The beavers created more ponds with their dam building which provided a habitat for other streamside trees which created a home for nesting birds. Leftover wolf created carcasses provided food for scavengers like coyotes and bald eagles. This “trophic cascade” illustrates how one organism can have positive effects on the whole ecosystem.
We are beginning to see an LGBT “trophic cascade” as people live open and increasingly equal lives in the United States and beyond. Harvey Milk famously said “I would like to see every gay doctor come out, every gay lawyer, every gay architect … only that way will we start to achieve our rights.” The seminal event of the LGBT “trophic cascade.”
As more LGBT people live open and authentic lives, many in the broader community have come to understand and support us, leading to greater acceptance. Greater acceptance has led to a better human ecosystem, one in which others have been forced to confront prejudice, to revaluate long held principles and to support LGBT full equality.
Our LGBT “trophic cascade” includes the marriage equality debate begun in Hawaii in 1991. With many LGBT people living openly, some wanted the right to validate their relationship with a marriage license. The marriage debate in Hawaii in turn helped imbue the modern version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was introduced in 1994.
Just like with the gray wolves, not everything moves positively forward. There were some livestock that were killed by the wolves but the resulting benefits greatly outweighed the small negative impact on a limited number of ranchers. President Clinton established Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in response to LGBT equality opponents who were afraid that open military service was around the corner. This was followed by the same-sex marriage ban movement.
The hotly debated issue of marriage equality caused many more people to become involved in the LGBT civil rights movement, and to come out, leading to more acceptance by the broader community because they discovered that a brother, sister, cousin, friend or co-worker was LGB or T. This led to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell which has led to our “marriage equality” spring. Our LGBT “trophic cascade” of equality.
The result: today 61 percent of Republican voters under 30 support marriage equality compared to 27 percent of Republican voters over 50. Support of marriage quality by Republican voters between the ages of 18 and 50 is 52 percent.
More acceptance by the broader community lessens LGBT youth suicide, helps some to get off the “down low” to live authentically, helps others to realize there is nothing “wrong” with them and finally helps some to realize it is essential to support those politicians and parties that support us. That’s a better human ecosystem.
Just like Yellowstone Park was greatly improved by the reintroduction of the gray wolves, so has America been improved by the reintroduction of the LGBT community to American culture. And I’m not just crying wolf.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
