“First they came for LGBT people, and I did not speak out – because I was not an LGBT person.
Then they came for the unions, and I did not speak out – because I was not a union member.
Then they came for the undocumented and uninsured workers, and I did not speak out – because I was not undocumented and uninsured.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
This poem is my version of a poem and speech that was popularized during the onslaught of the Nazis in Germany. My version speaks to the climate in today’s America and the challenges that those who believe in a progressive agenda have to face.
Over the last several weeks, there have been a host of issues that our community needs to speak out about to ensure that we are in solidarity with other people who support LGBT equality, a woman’s right to control her body and the right to a living wage.
While one or more of these issues may not affect you directly, it is important to let your voice be heard because these issues are all on the agenda of the far right and most Republican leaders. To many of them, LGBT people, unions, undocumented and uninsured workers are all the same; people trying to get something that they don’t deserve:
LGBT people don’t deserve equal rights and workplace protections. After all, LGBT relationships are not the same as “ours” and I should be able to fire them from their job because of my personal religious beliefs. Although there are so many religious beliefs I don’t follow, I can’t even count them.
Unions are ripping out the soul of the American economy by increasing wages and pensions for workers. If you have to work at minimum wage, you should not have a family because you can’t support them. The problem is minimum wage workers not the minimum wage. After all, you can buy dinner off the McDonald’s dollar menu and many of you work there.
By the way, we don’t want to supply you with contraception through our insurance program. So if you get pregnant, you need to have the baby so you can spiral into almost certain poverty. Collective bargaining be damned, we’ll take it to the courts.
Then of course are those pesky undocumented and uninsured workers. We all employ them but we do not want to say that publicly, it does not sit well with our far right base. So we go to the microphones and say we do not want immigration reform. We know full well that if everyone was deported, many of our businesses would go under. That’s our little secret.
So who’s next? Thank the Lord that these groups don’t work together, we would be doomed. Plus, we have convinced so many of them to support us even though we are against them. We love when an LGBT person supports a Republican who won’t publicly repudiate the Republican platform on LGBT rights. Or the non-unionized worker who says the unions are worthless until they get laid off after 24 years of service ensuring that they won’t get their full pension benefits. Or the immigrant who discriminates against undocumented and uninsured workers.
The San Diego LGBT community can do something about this; speak up about issues that don’t affect you. After all when they come for you, you want there to be someone to speak up for you.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
