The Defense of Marriage Act is defeated: Gay marriage is federally recognized! One by one, belligerent state governments are falling to the forces of love and equality, joining the ranks of states such as Connecticut, New York, and our very own Massachusetts, which became the first to recognize gay marriage in 2003. At a glance, it would appear that the battle is almost won, that members of the LGBTQ community are almost treated fairly in the United States, but nothing could be further from the truth.
We still live in a country that systematically oppresses citizens based on the immutable characteristics of gender identity and sexual orientation. From employment inequality to outright discrimination, the government has been far from adequate in defending LGBTQ rights, and it is essential that, even though we’ve won some significant battles already, we recognize that the war still rages on.
[su_pullquote]Read S815 here[/su_pullquote]Senator Ed Markey, for example, recently sent out an email to his supporters about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA; called S815 in the Senate). Markey helped usher ENDA through the Senate along with Senator Elizabeth Warren and with the support of the president. He was asking for help in pushing the House of Representatives to pass the bill, which they have yet to do. ENDA would extend basic federal employment protections (already awarded based on race, nationality and religion) to include gender identity and sexual orientation. Unlike the movement for gay marriage, however, the movement for employment protection has gone almost unnoticed among voters and high school students who are rarely involved in workplace affairs.
The same is true of issues involving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Very few high school students know that there is a ban on blood donations from men who have had homosexual contact at any time since 1977. The rule is a remnant of the AIDS epidemic of the ‘70s and ‘80s, despite the more recent development of technologies that allow for detection of HIV/AIDS. In contrast to this, a separate question on the FDA “donor history questionnaire” asks whether or not the potential donor has had sexual contact with an individual who is known to actually have HIV/AIDS, but specifies that this is only relevant “in the past 12 months,” as opposed to homosexual contact, which disqualifies even a donor who hasn’t had such contact in over 30 years. This kind of blunt discrimination on the part of a government administration is a serious issue, and yet it is often overlooked.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Senator Markey’s petition for the House of Representatives to pass ENDA can be found here[/su_pullquote]Moreover, although it is easy for Massachusetts residents to think of gay marriage as a done deal, a full 32 states still withhold that right. In fact, less than half of the population of the United States lives in a state that even allows civil unions, which represent a legal status below marriage. The issue of marriage equality in our country is far from resolved.
Marriage is an important matter, but it is neither fully resolved nor the only way in which the LGBTQ community is marginalized by our government. Aside from the examples listed above, there are also serious problems regarding denial of housing to trans* individuals, police abuse and more.
We have a responsibility to continue educating ourselves and to continue the fight for equal rights, even after critical advances in the right direction. That can mean calling Representative Joe Kennedy III (who represents Brookline in the House) to ensure his support, or starting/signing petitions to let Congress know that these issues are not going unnoticed. It can mean expressing your opinion in a letter to a newspaper editor, or finding relevant articles to share with your friends. It can even mean as little as keeping yourself educated about the issues so that when you need that knowledge to be an effective advocate in the future you have it at your fingertips. Regardless, we must continue working hard for equality. We’ve made good progress already, but our work is far from complete.
Ben Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected].
