I was recently asked three questions, and thought I’d use the blog as a forum for my answers. I encourage readers of my blog to post their comments and ideas as well.-TCW
1) What is the reason behind your website?
I began this specific blog in 2008, as a way to share the complexity of feelings and ideas I was having as I watched President Obama elected and Prop 8 pass in California. At the time, I couldn’t grasp how these two events could come in the same election! The first was what I had hoped for, but how could the second come from a state considered so progressive and gay-friendly? As I wrote in the month following the election, and read everything I could find out there, I believed there was a big missing area where there ought to be LGBTQ related dialogue, commentary and discussion. Sure there were some big “queer” blogs, and there was some LGBT journalism, but very little was being done to really engage more and more people as activists and advocates for change.
At the time, I felt as if “the gay press” served more as cheerleaders for “our side” rather than being agents of change. For the record, I don’t feel the same today- the role of the press is more complex than that, and my simplified viewpoint was’t accurate. Still then, and now, there wasn’t enough being written; not enough dialogue about what LGBTQ Rights are really all about and how we will achieve Full Equality. The solution was (and still is) to share more real-life perspectives, and encourage others to think, and talk about the real issues.
2) Do you think things are changing for the better or worse in terms of equality? Why?
Things are always changing, and I think clearly for the better. It wasn’t that many Presidents ago, when facing the greatest medical pandemic of the last few generations, the word “gay” or even “homosexual” was never even uttered by the sitting President! In his 2013 inauguration, President Obama, didn’t just mention the word “gay,” but called for full equality for all regardless of sexual orientation. That’s a lot of real positive change.
At the same time, we live in a culture where the differences seem to be growing and people are extremely divided. The Far Right is battling with every bit of energy it can muster to maintain the status quo, while modernity surges forward. The threats to real Equality seem to be fewer, but more server and dramatic. Consider the
“Don’t Say Gay” legislation in Tennessee, as an example of the extremes the Far Right will go to in their efforts to turn back the clock. I’ve written many posts about what I’m calling the growing American Theocracy, and detail this in these posts.
One can look around and justify saying that too much has happened and change/Equality is inevitable. On the other hand, History shows us that the all progress can be lost if the battle isn’t continued to the end. Consider the Dark Ages for example. We could lose this culture war. But if we keep fighting, we won’t. It is just too early to be celebrating victory.
3) How equal do you think society will be in 50 years time? Will we ever truly live in a world where everyone is treated equally?
This is the hardest question for me to answer, because of how big it is. I think in 50 years, we will be way past battling over Equal Rights for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and queer folks in the United States, but what about the rest of the planet? I don’t know. And, unfortunately, inequality still abounds today for African Americans. What is “equality” and do we as a society actually want it? And, if we do, what are we wiling to do to achieve it? Those are the ongoing questions that we, as a whole must grapple with. There are some who feel that Capitalism precludes equality, because the very notion of a free market situates some as winners and others as losers. Others see Capitalism as the path to equality by setting the stage for everyone to have the opportunity to succeed.
Real Equality will come about through cultural change, attitudinal shifts, as well as by the passage of laws, policies and maintaining our efforts to be a more perfect nation.
One Comment