BOSTON, Mass. – After last Friday’s historic United States Supreme Court decision granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry, Our Tomorrow is calling on the LGBTQ community across the country to share their hopes, fears and ideas in their own words to help shape the future of the movement.
Launched last month by over 100 national, local and state-based LGBTQ organizations throughout the country, Our Tomorrow is a grassroots and digital campaign designed to engage LGBTQ people in a national conversation about their future.
“Already we’ve received over 5,000 hopes, fears and ideas shared by LGBTQ people across the country about what they’d like to see for the future of our movement,” said Lee Swislow, Our Tomorrow campaign manager. “Many people, organizations and political leaders are already asking ‘what’s next for the LGBTQ community’. We believe it is critical that LGBTQ people in every city and town across the country have a voice in helping shape the answer to that question.”
Swislow continued, “Now is the time for our community to share the one thing we all have – our voice. We’re calling on LGBTQ people across the country to go to www.shareourtomorrow.org today and ensure that your voice is heard and help shape our future.”
Our Tomorrow’s digital hub, www.shareourtomorrow.org, offers LGBTQ individuals and friends the opportunity to take part in an open-ended conversation about their future. In conjunction with the campaign’s launch, the Our Tomorrow campaign also released a video, “Share Your Voice, Shape Our Future”, featuring a diverse group of individuals sharing their hopes, fears and ideas for the future of the LGBTQ community.
Throughout the summer, the Our Tomorrow survey soliciting the hopes, fears and ideas of LGBTQ people has been a part of events in over 40 U.S. cities and towns across the country. From Santa Cruz, California to Tulsa, Oklahoma, LGBTQ people have been sharing hopes for the future in their own words and expressing what they’d like to see next for the movement.
Last Monday, before the landmark 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Our Tomorrow campaign released a set of word clouds showing the emergence of themes in the hopes, fears and ideas of the current survey respondents.
During the release of last week’s word clouds, Swislow remarked, ““What we are seeing from respondents is that even in the midst of historic advancements for the LGBTQ community, many in our community still live in fear of being open and honest about their lives.
“New rights and recognitions create new challenges and changing minds doesn’t always translate to changing hearts. The one central element that comes through loud and clear in the responses we’ve received so far is that LGBTQ people know this struggle is not anywhere close to being finished. A lot of work remains to be done.”
My lifetime partner of 53 years and I, married 11 years, met in Boston in 1962 when I was in the U.S. Navy. Mum was the word back then and it was awkward describing our friendship, I felt like Jackie Gleason, hum-in-na hum-in-na hum-in-na, when I was asked who my friend was. I said he was my roommate, I invited them over to see our home and make their own decisions. They saw that we live just like they do and we are not a threat to them. We have many friends, gay and straight, married and single, who have supported us all of these years. Americans are learning that we are OK and are supporting us as evident by marriage equality becoming the law of the land. Of course there are those who refuse to accept us but they are digging their heels in to bury themselves as equality spreads across our land.