A few days ago, I was invited to participate in this community as a writer, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a longterm blogger on GLBT issues, among others, and someone who's been active in the marriage equality/civil rights battle in Massachusetts. I host a weekly political podcast called LeftAhead and have had KTN Director Tom Lang on before. But enough about my biography, let's talk about why I'm here - reasons I suspect we'll share in common.
Tonight, while doing a little research for a project I'm working on, I came across a quote from Frederick Douglas. It sums up why we work so damn hard to achieve equal status... and why we've been known to ruffle a few feathers along the way.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.
"If there is no struggle, there is no freedom," he said in summation. Damn straight.
The truth is if people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or who identify with our community are to one day see full equality in our lifetimes, it's going to require making many Americans uncomfortable. These are citizens who are perfectly capable of realizing that GLBT people deserve equal rights, it's just something that's still a little foreign to them. They see people complaining, but don't understand what the complaining is all about. They don't necessarily want to understand, either, because there's enough trouble in the world. Do they really need to learn more?
Well, yes, they do.This one common problem - the reflex to give into complacency - is why genocides in Africa still exist. It's why we don't learn about peaceful protesters being preemptively arrested at the Republican National Convention in the media. It's why we still, today, haven't achieved equal rights as a GLBT community.
Perhaps for the sake of our sanity, our minds reflexively want to look away when we see trouble in the world. Our tendency is to ignore that trouble, if it doesn't directly effect us, and go on ignorant of as many of the world's problems as possible - avoiding the agitation that makes us so uncomfortable. Get through the day, get through the day, all I have to do is get through the day... it's pretty much the average person's mantra from breakfast to bed. Eat, sleep and work - so we can maybe look forward to a little break on the weekend. That's about it.
Except, not all of us get to enjoy in that normalcy, at least equally. Our very existence, as people who identify as GLBT, challenges the ability of others to get by, uninterrupted by those pesky, uncomfortable thoughts - thus the policies and brutalities that have attempted to force us in the closet, away from the public light and keep us down. Two people holding hands walking down the street are perfectly normal anywhere in this country, a couple simply enjoying themselves on a sunny day. Yet, two gay people on that same street and place, doing the same thing, are 'making a statement' according to those who would seek to oppress us, or even those who just haven't seen it much before. Not much can be said of the former group, but for the latter - many of the very people who have voted against us at the polls - it's not that they're bigoted, it's just that they don't know any better. They haven't been agitated enough, yet.
Members of the KTN community, by and large, understand that we need to embrace that agitation. Know Thy Neighbor - it's in the very name. That agitation is the only way we can achieve progress, because we can't have rain without thunder. We understand that we can't be the only ones who endure that agitation - everyone must be a part of it, if we're to have our equal rights - and the world is to become a better place.
People may be comfortable in their bubbles, but when those bubbles keep others down, they need to be popped. The good news is that there's more oxygen on the other side of the bubble. For all but the least adaptive few (and questionably sane), people quickly get along just fine after that bubble's popped and their ignorance dissipates. The agitation is soon forgotten, as their world becomes a better place. We've seen that in Canada, much of Europe and in Massachusetts. We'll see that soon in California and elsewhere, too.
Once people see that the Earth is round, that the sky won't fall and that the pillars of society only strengthen through embracing diversity and inclusiveness, we win. We've won in Massachusetts. We're about to win in California - and, thus, over 10% of the country's population will see victory in one fell swoop. Here in the Bay State, a politician can't win an open seat without embracing equality - conservative districts as well as liberal. The only bigots anti-equality politicians remaining in office are the most entrenched incumbents - and even many of them have either been forced out or forced to change their ways. It took a lot of agitation and great struggle, but we've seen progress and we've seen that it's inevitable. Too many people want progress - and are willing to work for it - to be stopped. That's why I'm here - and that's why most of you are, too.
-Ryan Adams