Photo credit: Benson Kua
As LGBTQ History Month wanes, we should reflect on this year’s events that have become part of our history. It’s a mix of good and bad, of course. Given the fact that 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, one would expect significant and historical strides have added to the momentum of our nation’s advance towards LGBTQ equality.
Yes, there are reasons to celebrate. Certain celebrities came out; a number of cities and states banned conversion therapy for minors; the State of New York banned the so-called gay and trans panic strategy to defend violence against LGBTQs; and Illinois became the fourth state to require LGBTQ history be taught in public schools. Perhaps most historic is the fact that an out gay man, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is running for president. But, as important as these may be, the current course of the nation throws a sobering pall over what otherwise would be cause to celebrate.
Unfortunately in the name of profit and using fear as a cudgel, the national Republican leadership has devalued human dignity and human life itself. One need only look to the recent past to witness the trickle-down degradation of truth, justice and the America way of life. Internationally, the regime’s sell-out of our Kurdish allies, tolerance of China’s suppression of democracy, cozy embrace of dictatorships and dismissal of climate change science all negatively impact millions of lives. Domestically, we can only watch aghast at the rise of hate crimes and the erosion of human rights.
Whether kiddie concentration camps and family separation for immigrants of color, the Muslim ban, the diehard defense (and misreading) of the Second Amendment in the face of tens of thousands of victims of gun violence, the trending American attitude towards human life can be best summed up by the regime’s soulless leader, who, when responding to the death of a young British man, killed by the reckless driving of a U.S. diplomat’s wife, essentially shrugged and said, “shit happens.” And, when U.S. congressman and civil rights activist Elijah Cummings died last week, Christian regime proponents cheered his passing as God’s punishment for, among other transgressions, his support of LGBTQ equality.
Speaking of which, in the midst of LGBTQ History Month, the U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to LGBTQ Americans. In other words, the court is to determine if we can be discriminated against and fired by an employer simply because of our sexual orientation. That such a matter is even on the docket should be unfathomable in a nation where the pursuit of happiness as a right is enshrined in its Declaration of Independence, but it is. I suppose some see their “happiness” defined by hating others. What is particularly disconcerting is that the federal government itself supports the idea that employers have every right to fire employees who happen to be LGBTQ. A decision against us could portend future cases to abrogate our rights.
So, here we are. Fortunately, history is a process driven not by fate but by human forces. We can only hope the side of truth and justice prevails.
