We who are in the LGBTQQIAA have faced many trials and endured many tribulations yet our biggest challenge is staring us in the face and many seem not to see it. Unity. Unity is defined by Merriam-Webster Online as "a quality or a state of not being multiple: ONENESS" and "a condition of harmony". Within our community, there is a great lack of unity and surprisingly, it is caused by the same attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that plagued us when we struggled upward from the pits of hate and discrimination to stand proudly as ourselves. Were the Stonewall Riots so insignificant that the message they gave is now forgotten in not just ignorance but refusal to consider one sub-group of the LGBTQQIAA community because "they don't belong"? What happened to our grand designs and dreams of solidarity that would not only free us of the burden to even think about being in the closet but to give us strength enough to overcome the inequality we have been fighting for all these years?
No, the Stonewall Riots were not in vain. They were the groundwork laid down for us all to build upon and stand free of the shame the rest of the world has tried to foist upon us. They gave us the push we needed to say "We are no less human than the rest of you and we deserve to be treated that way." We are still struggling to realise this and, for a time, we will need to continue the struggle. The thing that is getting overlooked in the process is that ALL people deserve the very same equality we demand for ourselves and yet we have failed to look within our ranks see where that isn't happening.
What happened to our grand ideas is the one thing that drives a wedge into all such things: fear and ignorance. Just because we are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or pansexual or genderqueer or asexual or intersexed doesn't make us any more or less human. The two greatest challenges in conquering oneself are fear and ignorance. It is the ignorance of what some aspect of our community actually is, allowed to grow into fear and thus into division, even hate. Hate. We fight against this demon daily whether we realise it or not. We fight to show the world that we are PEOPLE just as they are who live a life in an effort to realise love and joy and success, just like them. We stand against it when it comes to those who want to strip us of our humanity and yet we turn to those in the community and say "You don't belong because you aren't like us." No, each aspect of the LGBTQQIAA community is NOT like any other aspect entirely but there is a commonality: we do not conform to society's ideas of sexual and gender normalcy. We don't and the case we present is that we should be treated equally because we are all human beings, worthy of all life has to offer should we but seek to know it and share it. Is this not true? If it is true, then why is there division in the LGBTQQIAA community? If it isn't true, then forget your read this and go on about your life as you wish. The rest of us will miss you but it is not for anyone to deny another the exercise of her or his free will.
This is for those of you who said it was true. You have chosen to see past the division into the heart of the matter and you have a desire to see it changed. This whole note is written just for you. It is now your duty and obligation to your peers in the LGBTQQIAA community to strive for understanding through education and peaceful demonstration. You have looked at the mess and said "I will help to clean this up." I give this one thing to take with you everywhere you go and no matter how rough the road may get, no matter how strong the opposition, this one thing will see you through. It is called hope. Hope for a future where there is no discrimination toward us for who and what we are as individuals and as a group. A future where it won't even be questioned if we choose to marry someone of the same physical sex. A future where our children won't be bullied for being like us or for having two parents of the same gender or for standing beside their friends who are one of us. A future where we can have families and that be considered "normal". We can have all that but before that can be a reality, the discrimination and division within must come to an end, be buried and forgotten because it does no one any good to hold onto it or recall it to anyone beyond the fact that we triumphed over it and now stand as one with the rest of our fellow human beings. This must be a mission we all undertake so that that future can be realised. It is up to you to take on this challenge and strive for that future we all deserve as people.
No, the Stonewall Riots were not in vain. They were the groundwork laid down for us all to build upon and stand free of the shame the rest of the world has tried to foist upon us. They gave us the push we needed to say "We are no less human than the rest of you and we deserve to be treated that way." We are still struggling to realise this and, for a time, we will need to continue the struggle. The thing that is getting overlooked in the process is that ALL people deserve the very same equality we demand for ourselves and yet we have failed to look within our ranks see where that isn't happening.
What happened to our grand ideas is the one thing that drives a wedge into all such things: fear and ignorance. Just because we are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or pansexual or genderqueer or asexual or intersexed doesn't make us any more or less human. The two greatest challenges in conquering oneself are fear and ignorance. It is the ignorance of what some aspect of our community actually is, allowed to grow into fear and thus into division, even hate. Hate. We fight against this demon daily whether we realise it or not. We fight to show the world that we are PEOPLE just as they are who live a life in an effort to realise love and joy and success, just like them. We stand against it when it comes to those who want to strip us of our humanity and yet we turn to those in the community and say "You don't belong because you aren't like us." No, each aspect of the LGBTQQIAA community is NOT like any other aspect entirely but there is a commonality: we do not conform to society's ideas of sexual and gender normalcy. We don't and the case we present is that we should be treated equally because we are all human beings, worthy of all life has to offer should we but seek to know it and share it. Is this not true? If it is true, then why is there division in the LGBTQQIAA community? If it isn't true, then forget your read this and go on about your life as you wish. The rest of us will miss you but it is not for anyone to deny another the exercise of her or his free will.
This is for those of you who said it was true. You have chosen to see past the division into the heart of the matter and you have a desire to see it changed. This whole note is written just for you. It is now your duty and obligation to your peers in the LGBTQQIAA community to strive for understanding through education and peaceful demonstration. You have looked at the mess and said "I will help to clean this up." I give this one thing to take with you everywhere you go and no matter how rough the road may get, no matter how strong the opposition, this one thing will see you through. It is called hope. Hope for a future where there is no discrimination toward us for who and what we are as individuals and as a group. A future where it won't even be questioned if we choose to marry someone of the same physical sex. A future where our children won't be bullied for being like us or for having two parents of the same gender or for standing beside their friends who are one of us. A future where we can have families and that be considered "normal". We can have all that but before that can be a reality, the discrimination and division within must come to an end, be buried and forgotten because it does no one any good to hold onto it or recall it to anyone beyond the fact that we triumphed over it and now stand as one with the rest of our fellow human beings. This must be a mission we all undertake so that that future can be realised. It is up to you to take on this challenge and strive for that future we all deserve as people.