Last week, I posted my first blog on the Patch regarding the Boy Scouts of America's unjust policy of discriminating against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) parents and scouts. While scanning the comments, one contributor wrote [sic], “The Gay Agenda is not in the Majority on this issue. Most of America is against this huge media push to push everything Gay onto America.”
The writer citied a MSN poll as empirical evidence. ( I did politely point out to the reader that polls such as that are not scientific and can not be generalized to the population and pointed to a Gallup poll that shows different findings http://www.gallup.com/poll/154634/Acceptance-Gay-Lesbian-Relations-New-Normal.aspx ).
Nonetheless, I did find the idea of the “Gay Agenda” interesting. I started to ask myself what is the “Gay Agenda?” And what is it that we are “pushing”...?
Yes, as social justice activists, we have an agenda. This agenda is based on the notion that all Americans deserve equality. This is an agenda that says LGBT youth should be able to go to school without fear of being harassed, beat-up, or killed.
Our agenda is that brave men and women can and should be able to serve in our United States Military openly and honestly. Our agenda is that loving and committed couples should be recognized by the state and federal government through marriage. Our agenda is that LGBT people should not be fired from our jobs because of who we are.
And most importantly, the Gay Agenda is the Women’s Agenda, the Black Agenda, the Working Class Agenda, the American Agenda, the Human Agenda. The Gay Agenda is part of an intersectional movement towards eliminating unfair obstacles, providing opportunities for the marginalized, and imagining a world where each person can live and grow to our capacity.
While writing this post, I found myself drawn to the words of Dr. Cornel West: “To accept your country without betraying it, you must love it for that which shows what it might become. America -- this monument to the genius of ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this long, halting turn of 'no' into the 'yes' -- needs citizens who love it enough to re-imagine and re-make it.”
My challenge to all of us is to look deep within ourselves and 're-imagine' our world: Ask yourself: what kind of world do I want to leave for the next generation?
My answer is “simple”: I want to leave a world where women are respected and not abused, raped and murdered by men, where people of color are not fueling the prison industrial complex and have equal access to all of our institutions, where working class families don't have to worry about feeding our families, where LGBT people aren’t being killed because of who we love, where immigrants are provided a safe route to citizenship, and where all people are respected and valued. In short, I envision the Gay Agenda.
The definition of Tolerance - "a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own." Being Tolerant does not mean you change your personal beliefs and take on someone else's. It means that you treat people fairly even though their beliefs are different than your own... which is what Jospeh Coe is asking for in his article, I believe. In the Chic Fil A story, Which side is being more tolerant? Is there any evidence that Chic Fil A has ever treated a gay person differently than any other customer? I have not heard any. Now look at the protesters, trying to shut down Chic Fil A because they don't agree with the business owners personal beliefs about marriage. Look at the definition, Is that being tolerant? Tolerance is a two way street.
And Watchdog, gay marriage offends you? The institution of marriage is already destroyed. Look at the divorce rate. Look at how many people are out there cheating on their spouses. Marriage is a formal confirmation of two people's love for one another. Why should this offend you, regardless of who those two people are? I surely hope that you don't ever have a child or grandchild who is gay and wants to get married to the same sex. Let me guess...you wouldnt LET your child be gay, right?