Thursday, September 24, 2009
Freedom is not free.
What do Hate Crime Laws and laws permitting Same Sex Marriage have in common?
YOU, or someone you know and love.
"I don't want to get married, but I don't want the State telling me I can't get married." A young man at a “No on Prop 8” rally said the foregoing. At that time proponents of discrimination against same sex marriage claimed "they" [LGBT people] have Domestic Partnerships. Today in Washington State, these same forces for discrimination are working actively to strip LGBT people of Domestic Partnership laws and protections.
Make no mistake the battles we are fighting throughout our country and the world are battles for the simple right to exist and to have a place at the table of society. We are fighting to live free from discrimination, verbal and physical violence, to be able to establish a home with someone that we love and to live with simple dignity. To live free from having to lie about our spouse, our family, and ourselves because we fear loss of our jobs due to legally enshrined bigotry. To live free from having to suffer in silence when someone publicly makes derisive comments about LGBT people due to socially sanctioned bigotry.
Yes, we are fighting for the right of civil marriage, but it is far more than that. We are fighting so that the next generation does not have to grow up in shame and live in fear. In California, we begin a new battle today to reclaim, not just the right to Civil Marriage, but also the rights of Human Dignity and Freedom, which we believe the Founders of our nation intended for ALL citizens.
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2 comments:
'The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just, it shall not deter me.' - Abraham Lincoln
The struggle for equality will continue and as new ways of thinking make its way into the population I hope the GLBT community of today will pave the way for generations to come - thanks for the post!
word verification: devels...
odd coincidence?
Thanks for the post…I wish I had more priests or clergy with your compassion and grace as a child. In my life Religion was used to beat up and put down the minority. You represent a God of grace and understanding that is missing from most religious circles. It took a long time for me come to embrace not only my sexual orientation but that I am a wonderful child of God. Keep up the good fight!!!
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