The Work Is Not Finished

Fear
Ignorance
Arrogance

These are the words that come to mind when I listen to this woman speak.

Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people are beginning to benefit by laws of equality being passed.

Equality in the workplace
Equality for insurance and retirement
Equality for marriage/civil unions
Equality in communities of faith

Legislating equality is important, but it isn't enough. You can't legislate equality in someone's heart. Some people actually believe that LGBT/Queer people have a disease that will spread. They actually believe that we don't possess the ability to love with real love. They believe that we are decaying the moral fabric of society.

In turn, these people who arrogantly believe that the only way to love is their way, who are afraid that they or their children can catch being queer, and who are ignorant of the facts about who we are, how we love, and what the divine thinks of us ... these people are wanting legislation too. They want laws that take away our liberty and justice.

Please, don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Not all people know the truth about same gender loving people or people whose gender falls outside the binary. Just because your faith community celebrates diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities doesn't mean that all, or even most, do. Just because your city/county/state has legislated for some kind of equality for all sexual orientations and gender identities doesn't mean that all the people in your city/county/state understand that this legislation is for equal rights and not for special rights.

How will they know the truth if we don't tell them? Some believe they know the truth. The woman in the video below, I have no doubt, believes what she is saying. We know she is wrong and is spreading hate and untruths, but many of those listening to her think she is an authority on the subject of our lives.

We must tell our own stories!!
We must follow through after the legislation is passed for equality by visibly participating in our equality!!
We must not take our few rights for granted!!

Even if the work is over on your behalf - you have full and equal rights in your faith community, your city/county/state, your family - your work is not over. Many many people are still struggling to be seen as valuable rather than as a disease. Many people will still lose their jobs or families if they become visible as being LGBT/Queer. Many people are still beaten, raped, and murdered - sometimes because equality has not been legislated, sometimes in spite of equality being legislated, and sometimes because extremists are furious that equality has been legislated.

The rhetoric of people such as this woman, who defame LGBT/Queer people and spread toxic and needless hate, fear and arrogance, incite others to act in violent ways. Emotional violence. Physical violence. Legal violence.

The work is not yet over. Listen for yourself.




h/t Alexandra Billings