Each year we celebrate Thanksgiving to take stock of what’s important and how we have been blessed in the last year. The LGBT community has so much to celebrate in 2014, but none is more important than our march to marriage equality. Who could have predicted, in just one short year, our community would reach the tipping point to honor the ones we love in the “traditional” way.
It is a foregone conclusion that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor when they decide same sex marriage for the nation. Sure there is a chance that the Supreme Court can rule differently, but it is highly unlikely. Do you believe the Supreme Court will invalidate all of the same sex marriages that have occurred in the United States? Or that the Supreme Court will decide to make two different classes of LGBT citizens, those who were allowed to marry and therefore are grandfathered into the institution, and those who will not be allowed to marry going forward? I think not.
Why is marriage so important? It “normalizes” our relationships which is what the anti-LGBT political class fears most. When little Johnny or Suzie have friends who have parents that are of the same sex, how do their anti-LGBT parents explain that it is totally immoral? When portrayals of normal, complicated LGBT relationships are seen during primetime on television and in movies, how do those same parents explain that these portrayals do not represent real life? They can’t and that means that time is on our side.
Just like the effect President Truman had on African American lives by integrating the armed forces, marriage equality will lead to our full equality in the United States and beyond. Full equality may mean significant changes in what it means to be a community and those challenges we will face head on. There may be no more gayborhoods and LGBT bars. There will be more integration with the broader community which is evidenced by how LGBT youth interact with their straight friends. They party together, period. No more “but that’s a gay bar, Kyle won’t want to go there, he’s straight.” Or, “we can’t go to Pacific Beach; Josh won’t feel comfortable around all those straight guys.” The youth have moved beyond the old stereotypes to create the new normal.
So as you gather with those who you have chosen to share the holiday, be thankful that you are living your LGBT life today. A time when you can hold your girlfriend’s hand in public, when you can steal a loving kiss with your boyfriend at a restaurant, when you can be open and honest about being a member of the LGBT community at work. For those of us over 40 years old, we understand how far the LGBT community has come in a very short time. For those under 40, you live in a world that has moved to accept you as you are. For that, we should all be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving from LGBT Weekly!
