They say that every dog has its day. Well, perhaps the same is true when it comes to the legislation we care about.
Health care reform's day, obviously, was Sunday night (perhaps Tuesday morning, too). This historic passage – the first major reform of America's health care system in over 50 years – is something to applaud.
It didn't include the LGBT-friendly provisions we may have hoped: a guarantee that we will not face discrimination from our insurance providers; the promise of a study of LGBT health disparities; and insurance of coverage for our partners. But as Americans, and surely as a portion of that 32 million who will soon have health insurance, we should be celebrating anyway.
There are issues that are important to us particularly as LGBT Americans: the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex marriage and more. But rejoicing the wins we are experiencing right now doesn't mean we are giving up on our issues, and giving health care reform its day in the spotlight doesn't mean Congress and President Barack Obama have failed us.
The passage of this historic legislation shouldn't create disappointment that ENDA or DADT have been trumped, but reassurance that Obama's promises can and will actually be accomplished.
When it comes to the promises he has made us, we should feel confident that he will live up to them.
We should always be demanding our rights, and we were, even as health care debate raged on. Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo chained themselves to the White House fence in protest to DADT. Meanwhile, groups of activists stormed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices demanding passage of an inclusive ENDA. Sure, health care debate probably overshadowed the efforts on most mainstream media outlets, but they were commendable endeavors nonetheless.
We should always take time to step back and appreciate wins for us as fellow Americans.
But by another token, we should never stop fighting, even as larger things are happening in our government and the world. We should never give Obama and Congress a free pass. We should never wait for our issues to come up and sit patiently until they do. There should never be a day where we say, "We were going to protest or lobby for our rights today, but perhaps we had better wait until next week."
A day where there is a lull in politics is never going to happen in local or national government. If we ever want our days to come, we have to demand them.
Health care reform should be the top issue on our minds right now, and we have every right to be unabashedly happy about it. But next, it is expected that ENDA's day in the spotlight is coming, and our legislators – many of the same ones who helped to fight so hard for health care reform – will fight for that as well. And "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." And DOMA.
If we keep fighting for it, our legislation's day will come. And when it does, we'll be ready to bask in the sunlight.
