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Loading ...Gay activists: Marriage secondary to basic rights
07.31.2009 8:30am EDT
(Clayton, Mo.) Gay marriage and gays in the military may dominate the headlines, but activists in many states say their fight is much more fundamental: basic rights and protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.
Activists from state-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations from throughout the U.S. are meeting in Missouri this week to share their efforts to make inroads in state legislatures, municipalities and school districts.“In Missouri, you can still be fired for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said Thursday. “Sexual orientation is not a protected class in Missouri.”
A spokeswoman for the Missouri Commission on Human Rights confirmed that is the case, saying past efforts to include sexual orientation as a protected class have failed.
Toni Broaddus, executive director of their national alliance, the Equality Federation, said gay marriage has never been the movement’s No. 1 priority. Rather, it’s about the ability to work, get housing, adopt children, have families and have their partners recognized, she said.
“We just want the rights that everyone else has,” she said. “This is about being equal citizens under the law.”
At a get-acquainted session Thursday, dozens of activists provided updates on progress and setbacks in the states.
In Tennessee, transgender activist Marisa Richmond said advocates are working to pass a hate crimes law that would include lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered under its protection.
In recent weeks, she said, they won a commitment from Memphis-based Federal Express to add gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy.
Wisconsin passed new domestic partnership protections this summer that the Wisconsin Family Action recently challenged in the state Supreme Court, saying the new registry for same-sex couples violates the state constitution’s ban on gay marriage and civil unions.
In Oklahoma, a group formed recently to fight what Oklahoma State University professor Laura Belmonte called “an intensely hostile environment” where only one small municipality has an anti-discrimination law.
“People ask me why I stay, but I say, ‘It doesn’t have to be this way,’” she said. “You can put your head in the oven and blow out the pilot light, or you can fight back.”
Last year, gay and lesbian groups demanded Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern apologize after she told a political group that “the homosexual agenda” poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.
Kern said by phone Thursday that gays and lesbians want “approval for their behavior.”
“What are we going to approve next, adultery?” she asked.
The Equality Federation’s Broaddus said the top priorities for gay-rights activists at the state level are passage of new anti-discrimination laws or strengthening of existing ones; passage of anti-bullying laws that address sexual orientation or gender identity and expression, and recognition of their relationships, whether in marriage, civil unions, or a domestic partnership registry.
I consider basic rights and marriage rights equally important, none more than the other. I don’t see why the two should be exclusive to one another.
As someone who now lives in small town Alabama, having moved from big-city California, I can totally relate. While marriage rights are an ultimate dream, winning basic rights in work, housing, etc., is a priority. Don’t get me wrong – equal rights are equal rights – but on a state level in many places we are still far, far behind some of the more “progressive” states and are having to fight for rights that many others already have and take for granted.
And don’t forget, many of the states we are talking about, including Alabama, have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Until DOMA is repealed, marriage is almost a non-issue, especially here in Alabama. So it is better, in my mind, to press on at the state level, with getting the right not to be fired, the right not to be discriminated against in housing, hospital visitation, etc.
I absolutely disagree with this and this is what had disenfrachised me from the activist groups that are not grassroots who seem to think they know what is best for me and my family. Groups like the HRC seem to think that we have to be patient and wait on the side-lines, that we can only do one thing at a time – they are wrong. Equality is equality whether it is marriage equality, housing equality, job protections etc. Gaining marriage equality goes a lot way to validating us as families and securing our future, rights, equal taxation etc., being able to be out in the military goes a long way for other aspects of employment and sends a powerful message to companies. The article states that you can be fired for being Gay – well many States are “right to work” states which means you can be dismissed for any reason at will. I just fail to understand why it must be one right or the other…instead of fighting for equality on all fronts. The same as I don’t understand why the activists keep wanting to attack this State by State instead of at the federal level where it will do the most good. Honestly, I am tired of giving massive amounts of money state by state and for what? I understand everyone’s situation is different, I may feel differently if I struggled with employment or finding a place to live, however, being an openly gay man for 20 years I have never had that issue – when I’ve seen discrimination in the workplace I have worked to educate and fix the problem and I have always seen a willingness to improve in the companies I’ve worked for. My partner & I have never been denied housing because we are gay and though we live in the most republican dominated, conservative area of Colorado have always felt welcome by our neighbors – so maybe I am just extremely lucky that way…but daily I face the insecurity that our kids or my husband will not be cared for with benefit/inheritance/social security/higher tax levels etc. those are the issues that effect me daily and which marriage equality would eliminate.
PRotection of your family and lover is not a basic right? Where do these people get off? Seriously, listen to the gay public and do what we want rather than what you think the right decision is.
I, too, am from Alabama. While there is indeed a state constitution marriage ban that even prevents civil unions and could be interpreted against many varieties of domestic partnerships, I still believe that legalizing same sex marriage is an effective route to winning hearts and minds. Its very existence as an institution in a state shows the public that gays and lesbians aren’t the hyper-promiscuous circuit party addicts they’ve seen on Fox News, but instead are good earnest people who love and share many hopes and dreams.
Of course, the only way to legalize same sex marriage HERE would probably be a repeal of DOMA. Second to that, this is a state where many of the most homophobic people unquestionably revere those in the military. Ending DADT would also go a VERY long way in the great battle to win over the general public here in the long run.
You can fight all you want for employment, housing, and other state-by-state non-discrimination bills, but these aren’t going to ever make it to law if they don’t see us as anything other than their bigoted view handed to them by the most right wing of so-called “Christians.”
It’s not that marriage itself is more important, but if you CAN win that fight, a lot more will fall into place.
-Alex R.
Let me be completely honest with you mdw. To take these fronts to a national level is fine for some issues on the table, and honestly those issues are being addressed appropriately on the national and state levels. The reason why these fights are stratified is for this reason: Although something is legalized or abolished on a national level there is still a state-by-state issue at hand. Having federal backing is nice but benefits received come from both entities, the state and the federal government. The complexity of the issues is far greater than we can just do this and voila, everything is good.
Don’t get me wrong, I also disagree that a given issue is less important than another however I think we can all agree that the commercialization of these issues is beginning to get on everyone’s nerves. I can see why a lot of gay groups are starting to say “I almost hate marriage now.”
Being a token gay in almost every single one of my courses in college I was often asked my opinions on these issues. I even snapped on one of my professors because I got so sick and tired of hearing over and over about marriage. It is like when people go baby crazy and every other word is “BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY” and you just want to choke them.
Change on the local level comes from the local community. Our national organizations should be offering financial backing, ground support, and expertise to the locals while simultaneously lobbying in Washington on the federal issues. The LGBT community may be a minority, but there are enough of us to work on all of the different fronts. It’s all the same battle. Repeal of federal DOMA will not directly help Missouri, BUT it could pave the way for a lawsuit that will bring marriage equality to that state. There’s a mind-boggling amount of work to be done, but it’s all interconnected and all valuable.
I live in a small town in Florida and i see it this way. i dont mind going to another state to get married right now, but i shouldn’t have to leave my home to be treated like a person. when i visit my girlfriend at work we can’t even touch or hug in fear of her being fired, even if she is off the clock. i can handle the dirty looks but we should be able to kiss goodbye at work like everyone else.
it’s sad that we should even have to choose between an laws that let us live our lives as we would like to. but the biggest thing is that in the LGBT community we are starting to fight with each other. we need to have a united front against those who literally “SEEK TO DESTROY US AS PEOPLE.”
I suspect this is what everyone confronts when discussing GLBT rights: I had a conversation with a “practicing” Catholic about the “gay situation” without him knowing that I was gay. I ask him what the problem was with gays wanting equal rights. His response: “it will destroy the sanctity of marriage and the family, of that I have no doubt.” I ask him how this would occur. His answer? “It just will and that’s all there is to it. It is God’s will and anything against ‘His’ will is destructive and you don’t need to know the details. It just is.”
My question? How in hell do you challenge that kind of thinking when you are dealing with a mindset that has been caste in concrete? Anything I tried to offer as a challenge was met with: “that doesn’t matter, it is God’s will.”
This person also had no problem with anyone who was willing to send “those perverts on a fact track to hell.”
I’m sure he will be in church on Sunday and will receive communion.
The places where we are pushing for marriage already have nondiscrimination statutes in housing and employment. Should they wait until people everywhere stop being bigots to push for equality?
Gay rights have become a symbol of western decadence in many conservative societies around the world. Does that mean that we should accept discrimination until gay people stop being executed in Iraq and Nigeria? It will never happen that way.
Tennessee already has a hate crimes law that includes sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
http://www.hrc.org/issues/hate_crimes/1782.htm
The Tennessee Equality Project is now working on a nondiscrimination ordinance in Nashville.
But as someone that will be graduating from college next year, I do think about employment discrimination. I can pretty much work anywhere, but can be fired in 30 states for being gay? That sucks.
I think everybody wants EQUALITY. We need to go where the momentum and support is. Tennesee isn’t working on marriage equality right now because that’s not what we can get. What we can get is non-discrimination ordinances and laws.
I’m more for federal legislation anyways, because it could be decades before TN is ready for full equality.
THANK YOU, for finally showing some leadership!
We can’t get everything we want all at once. Prioritizing and doing things in a strategic order can be the way to move our agenda a long quicker.
Think about it, people! How can non-gay-progressive states get on board with gay marriage until some fundamental protections have allowed gay people to come out more safely…until they’ve had a chance to get to know us and to see that the sky won’t fall?
It’s absolutely the right way to go…
I believe our continued lack of focus is a reason why we are where we are after 40 years.
Per Toni Broaddus, marriage is not our priority… “it’s about the ability to work, get housing, adopt children, have families and have their partners recognized” “We just want the rights that everyone else has,” she said. “This is about being equal citizens under the law.”
…..Sounds to me like marriage equality goes a long way here toward what she is saying we want. Why isn’t marriage our number 1 priority? Marriage equality has the ability to affect every one of our lives…. repealing DADT, or fighting for ENDA, hate crime legislation, etc. does not.
If we truly want to be equal citizens, why do we focus our fight for protections that make us unequal citizens?
Sounds to me like marriage equality would help ensure our ability to “adopt children, have families and have our partners recognized”. Marriage equality would help us legitimize our families and would also help us naturally reduce discrimination in housing and employment.
Personally, I do not believe that fighting for “protected status” should be our priority. Does our push to be “unequal” truly help us with our fight to be “equal”?
Do we really believe that protected status has ended all racial and religious discrimination in housing and employment?
There is a strong conservative argument for marriage equality. We should use it… and use it often.
I believe we need to invest our time and resources in pushing for marriage equality and build stronger alliances with the religious community. We need to focus on our positives, keep our negatives out of the spotlight… and eliminate our opponents ability to vilify us at every turn.
It’s funny sort of, that many straight folks don’t think “sexual orientation” applies to them. Don’t think that oral sex is really sex. Don’t they know everyone, including them, has a sexual orientation? So basically, without laws protecting sexual orientation, there are really no laws giving special protection to straights from discrimnation either. No one is covered.