Friday June 26, 2015 will forever be cemented in History as the day the US Supreme court Recognized Same sex Marriage. Obviously this is a massive won for equality and for people of the same sex who want to get married, and under secular law should have the right to do so, but was this really as big of a win for LGBTQ people as it seems?
Having grown up in a society in which the notion of being Gay was not even discussed let alone looked upon as shame, the marriage equality victory rings hollow. I look around me at many friends, and people i have come in contact with over the years and what I see is pain, suffering, and the remnants of years of psychological trauma, and I cant help wondering how this ruling really helps us? I say us because i include myself one of the people I just mentioned.
Some people say Marriage equality will lead to an overall acceptance and bettering of LGBT people and society, a logic which has yet to be proven. I think of the millions and millions of dollars spent toward, Marriage equality fight and then I look at people I know, who suffer from addiction, self harm, depression, and live in a bubble of pain, and I cant help feeling that we have been thrown to the wayside by the obsession of certain lobbies with what they perceive as the ultimate form of equality. But why do I know someone who has committed suicide because he was gay at the age of 16? why do I know people who have been abused, and scammed by the reparitive therapy sham, why do I know people who have addiction to heavy drugs? shouldn't all this work come before Marriage Equality? Shouldn't the hard earned money of donors go toward ensuring not a single LGBT Youth is not sleeping on the street, or selling him or herself for sex just to survive? The issues mentioned to do not even touch on the massive Transgender discrimination across every single level of society. Don't get me wrong many amazing organizations exist out there that do fight for justice, change, and support, of LGBT people from all walks of life, but the amount of marriage equality activists and non profits seems to loom over all the other advocacy groups combined. Now that the issue of Marriage equality is essentially over, what will become of these massive non profit organizations
now that their mission has been accomplished? Will they turn toward the inner working of the LGBT population and help them? Or will they find the thought of giving up the large Gala dinners and mingling with Hollywood celebrities too tempting to let go of? Unfortunately it seems that instead of focusing on the painful and less glorified issues, they are now turning toward other countries such as Australia to fight for marriage equality there. Memes are going up everywhere saying the march for equality must move toward the international stage and so on.
But what will happen to the people? The people who are suffering, the people who are wasting away, the people that don't even have the freedom to realize that the are gay? are they just irritable flies buzzing around the "Fight for Equality" lobby and tarnishing the fictional image of an almost perfect LGBT society? Or will The money trail finally make its way toward the fight for true Equality and dignity for LGBT people?
Its wonderful to see so many facebook posts and profile pictures covered in the rainbow flag, and seeing so many people expressing joy and hope. The LGBT community right now feels empowered and rightfully so. Marriage Equality is a huge win. But a part of me cant help wondering about the 16 year old boy who lived a few houses away from me, who committed suicide before I even came out, and maybe possibly could have talked to him and we could have helped each other through the worst times. His story haunts me, and I cant help wondering why isn't he here to celebrate? why isn't he here to change his profile picture to the rainbow flag?
