Holidays are a time for ALL families

The holidays are coming up fast. It is hard to believe that it is already December – it certainly doesn't feel like it's been a month since Michigan voters opted to write discrimination into our constitution. That is because there's been a tremendous amount of momentum and continued effort to fight this discriminatory measure. Indeed, proponents who swore up and down all along that this measure was not about benefits or rights or how people live their lives, that this was "only" about "protecting traditional marriage," are showing their true colors. Barely a day had passed after the election when they set their sights on eliminating domestic partner benefits.
Happy Holidays, indeed. At a time when folks are urged to be charitable, when people volunteer at soup kitchens and collect mittens and coats for needy children and groups of strangers travel door to door to share holiday songs with their neighbors, Representative Ken Bradstreet, R-Gaylord, can think of nothing more important than making sure that gay and lesbian state workers are denied domestic partner benefits in their contracts.
Apparently, for Bradstreet the holidays aren't about families – at least not those that don't fit his narrow definition. If only Bradstreet had to personally explain to every family, every child, who would be hurt by his resolution why he was doing this. Then it would be unconscionable – only a person with no heart could do it. But Bradstreet never has to see the families he is working so hard to hurt.
Often the most invisible victims of discrimination are children. They are often hurt the most – when they are denied two legal parents, when their parents are denied domestic partner benefits, when they are harassed in school, when they are beaten for being LGBT. Yet children in our society often do not have a voice – and LGBT children and the children of LGBT families are often not seen OR heard.
In this issue of BTL we continue our coverage of a brutal beating at an East Lansing high school. LGBT kids are still at higher risk of becoming victims of violence, and still most schools do not have measures in place to protect them.
Groups like GLSEN, also covered in this issue, are working to change that, but they need help and they need support. Anti-gay forces want schools to have nothing to do with homosexuality even though LGBT kids and educators are in schools across the country every day. These people pretend that LGBT kids don't exist. They deny them equitable protection, they deny them representation in crucial areas of learning like sex education. They believe that LGBT people should not be teachers for fear that their sexuality would "rub off" on students.
We also feature a report about LaJoya Johnson, a lesbian MSU student and activist who was recently awarded for her fight against inequality. We are proud of her, and we know that there are many unsung youth heros in our community who are strong, and out, and proud. We also know there are many youth who are scared and closeted and feel powerless. We need to protect all of our youth, our future, from discrimination at the most basic level. All youth deserve to feel safe in school, and all families deserve to be protected. Unfortunately, these are not the moral values of many of our leaders, like Rep. Bradstreet, who dare claim a moral high ground. It is shameful, it is wrong, but it will change. We must start with the youth because it is up to them to be the progressive leadership of the future. We're counting on them, so let's remember that, meanwhile, they're counting on us.