By Nancy Katz
As I'm sitting here, I am hoping and expecting news of the biggest victory yet in the battle for LGBT rights — marriage equality. Like most people my age, we never expected to see this in our lifetimes. When we get our Supreme Court decision, we will all celebrate our good fortune, hug our spouses (who will then be our legal spouses even in Michigan) and thank everyone who helped this day happen.
But it seems one of the strangest ironies that, on our greatest day of celebration, we still lack the most basic civil rights protections. Of course, civil rights movements never move along a direct path. In the 1970s and 1980s, LGBT civil rights were focused on employment discrimination, repeal of sodomy laws and, of course, AIDS. These efforts had some success. However, Evan Wolfson, who is the legal and intellectual father of the marriage equality movement, convinced LGBT leaders that marriage equality was the most important goal. He believed that denial of our right to marry marginalizes LGBT people and winning marriage rights would be the cornerstone of full justice. In a way that seems obvious today, marriage affords our relationships the legitimacy and integrity that only equal marriage could.
But being able to marry is not enough. In Michigan, and in most other states as well, we can get married on Saturday and be fired on Monday. For that matter, we can be kicked out of our homes, and denied medical care, adoption and many other services. Winning marriage equality in a relatively few years is wonderful and amazing, but we can't stop there. Now that majorities of the public support marriage rights, and even greater majorities support equal rights, we must push forward to make secure equality in all spheres of our lives.
Winning the marriage equality battle has proven that the LGBT community has power. We have that power because we came out, talked to our friends and family and changed hearts and minds. We need to use that same power to educate our friends and families about our lack of civil rights. We need to engage businesses and corporations in lobbying the legislature for LGBT equality. We need to support those organizations in our community that are leading the charge to secure full equal rights. Perhaps most importantly, we need to vote and support lawmakers who support us.
So, I'm going to celebrate the day we get a Supreme Court decision, and I'm sure you will too. But we can't rest on our laurels. Make decision day a celebration and a call to action to secure equal rights once and for all.
