The kick up over the religious freedom bill last week didn't really come as much of a surprise to myself and others members of the LGBT community. The GOP and their right wing Christian allies have been trying to come up with a strategy to deal with gay marriage as it has become legal in 75% of states across the country and will most probably be settled law once the supreme court rules as expected.
But I have become frustrated as a gay man with the "leaders" of the gay community, whoever they are, due to the major emphasis on gay marriage.
Don't get me wrong - I am glad we are headed for victory on this issue. Any two people who want to get married should have the right to get married and form the type of "marriage" they choose to form. And religious bigots should not have any say in this matter, some of whom are my family members. And I get what a huge victory this is.
However, for the most part, gay marriage, while a huge victory for marriage equality, grants the right to all gays and lesbians, benefits those in the LGBT community who choose to get married, who, based on anecdotal evidence and lots of conversation, clearly represent a minority of the LGBT population.
I also get the fact that by early summer, LGBT people will be pretty much fully protected in public and private employment and in their ability to get married in 19 states across the country - pretty much the blue states in the electoral college:
Nineteen states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have statutes that protect against both sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment in the public and private sector: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.
But there are 29 states where LGBT folks will not be protected in public and/or private employment and of those 29 states, about thirteen of them still don't recognize gay marriage. Blue states where LGBT folks are not protected in both public and private employment include New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Having said all of that, please note that I am using LGBT as a catch all, because even in a lot of these blue states, few extend both public and private employment protections to cover sexual identity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
As far as housing is concerned, there are 18 states that prohibit housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Three additional states, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin prohibit housing discrimination based on sexual orientation only. Blue states not on either of these two lists include Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia.
This has really been bugging me for awhile. While gay marriage is important, overall discrimination in employment, housing, etc., is by far, more widespread and affects many in the LGBT community, but as I said earlier, all the noise on these other issues has been sucked out by the debate over gay marriage.
But by luck of the draw yesterday, Christine Quinn came to my rescue and finally opened up the issue on national television, during an appearance on Steve Kornacki's show on MSNBC, Up With Steve Kornacki.
The video is a discussion on how to reconcile religious freedom and gay marriage. Please watch the whole video, it's really a great discussion and I promise you'll enjoy it. But listen carefully to Christine Quinn's word starting at 9:45 as she raises this issue:
http://on.msnbc.com/...
So Quinn hits the nail on the head - by this summer, we may have nationwide gay marriage. But a gay couple who get married in one state, could return home on Monday, place a wedding picture of them and their new spouse on their desk, and be fired the same day for being gay, because they live in a state with no employment protections. Or they could also be kicked out of their apartment for because they live in a state without housing protections for gay couples.
I hope I was able to get my point across here. I am glad gay marriage will become the law of the land, but for most LGBT folks, our lives are much more affected by discrimination across the board, in places like housing and employment. Resources need to be allocated to deal with this. Not sure what the plan is - but it's important to remember, many of these protections are not something the federal government bestows on its LGBT citizens. States still have the ability to discriminate in employment and housing and other areas and it needs to stop. We need to close the circle of discrimination so our rights can never be voted on or shot down by voters or state legislatures.