Gay activists: Marriage secondary to basic rights

[WillParkinson]

Gay activists: Marriage secondary to basic rights

(Clayton, Mo.) Gay marriage and gays in the military may dominate the headlines, but activists in many states say their fight is much more fundamental: basic rights and protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.

Activists from state-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations from throughout the U.S. are meeting in Missouri this week to share their efforts to make inroads in state legislatures, municipalities and school districts.

“In Missouri, you can still be fired for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said Thursday. “Sexual orientation is not a protected class in Missouri.”

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-activists-marriage-secondary-to-basic-rights/

[imdjh]

1. It would be interesting to know how many of the titled gay activists live in the safety zone.

I knew an activist who lived in DC who decided he was going to move to SF to continue his work. How incredibly brave. I think I'll move to Palm Beach to fight poverty.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. what makes them think one doesnt follow the other? when our relationships

get the highest degree of recognition in society, which whether you like it or not, is and has alway been marriage, it will be very hard to justify things like discrimination in housing.

i think the only way we are going to win all these battles is by claiming our relationships and thereby our sexuality to be equal to heterosexuals and frankly the easiest way to do this is marriage.

[jonnyblitz]

3. good post. I think it is a right of utmost importance to obtain even

if I personally am not interested in ever getting married even if i had a long term partner and could.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. hey jonny!! how are you? get this .....i was interviewed by 3 news papers since pride!!

:woohoo:

[jonnyblitz]

5. HA, that's cool! I'll be in NYC soon to visit thomcat and jenna

and hope to run into you and Lisa as well. I have been suffering from vertigo most of the summer so far and it's just now fading.

anyways i will PM you soon.

keep up the good work! :hug:

[Toasterlad]

6. Exactly. Equality Is Equality. We Either Have ALL the Same Rights, Or We're Not Equal

Pretty fucking simple.

[Meeker Morgan]

7. Well I sort of see a point ...

There is no federal anti-discrimination law for gays. You could get married and then get arbitrarily fired for who you married.

That said, I consider marriage to be one of the basic rights and we shouldn't have to prioritize.

[noamnety]

8. I'm wondering about the AP's bias in reporting this.

When I read the full article, it seemed like they are including marriage as one of the basic rights, all of which are important. The headline (which I'm guessing the AP wrote) makes it sounds like other issues take priority over marriage, whereas I'm reading the article as stating that marriage doesn't take priority over the other rights. There's a difference there.

The lead paragraph notably limits priorities to "discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation."

Further down, when they are actually quoting the person, family relationships are included: "Rather, it’s about the ability to work, get housing, adopt children, have families and have their partners recognized, she said."

They are mixing marriage and civil unions as if they are equal, which I take exception to - but all the same I think the AP misrepresented the issue in the headline and lead.

[joeybee12]

10. It should read that they are part of basic rights, or essential to...

Maybe just a quick headline write without really thinking it through.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Marriage is the most fundamental of all rights

Some folks are just politically immature and fail to realize that if LGBTs are denied full marriage rights, then there is no such thing as health benefits for gay families, or Social Security, or probate advantages of hetero spouses, etc.

[noamnety]

11. I don't know if it's the MOST fundamental

I think it's on equal standing with a couple others, like the right to work, the right to housing.

This is true: "if LGBTs are denied full marriage rights, then there is no such thing as health benefits for gay families, or Social Security, or probate advantages of hetero spouses, etc."

But also without a right to work, there are no health benefits, no social security, no probate advantages because there's no income.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Marriage rights, the right of humans to pair up, is the most ancient of rights

long before there was such a thing as an employer or a house.

[canis_lupus]

13. I agree whole-heartedly with the article

Somewhere along the line the presumed leaders of the LGBT movement hit upon marriage equality as our flagship issue in the struggle for equal rights. While I agree that it is an important right, I think it is a divisive issue within our own community. There are plenty of us who have no intention of immitating heterosexuals by adopting their version of a marriage. But the vast majority of us will have to work for a living and have a roof over our heads. So for a sizeable percentage of us, workplace protection trumps marriage as an issue. And besides, economic stability can wreck a marriage when partners face the possibility of losing their jobs for being gay.

It always struck me as odd that the major gay organizations were so intent on making marriage such a big part of our issues. I remember when the president of HRC toured the country shortly after he took office. I read a column by him about how wherever he went, he was urged to put effort into getting ENDA passed ... but then he went back to Washington and suddenly marriage was the be-all and end-all issue. I guess that's one of the reasons why I don't put a lot of faith in our national organizations to truly reflect our priorities.