Equality Soapbox
Thanks to my DVR, I got to watch last night's episode of BROTHERS AND SISTERS tonight. I don't know why, but it struck me as a very positive episode. Positive for the country that we're living in, that apparently people are getting progressive and accepting. If a network television program (albeit in the 10 o'clock hour) can show two male characters kissing, I think we're moving forward. Probably this isn't news (I guess ELLEN did this years before, right? And I don't even know what other shows have done it... lo siento), but it struck me today.
I also saw Broadway's SPRING AWAKENING about a week ago, and it's similar. Men have been kissing (and more) on stages all over the place before, but now it's happening on Broadway, and it's grand. It's grand if only for the fact that it's equality, proof that W. isn't going to run this country into the ground.
We need to fight for equality, across the boards... race, creed, orientation, gender... we're all here and human and each should be guaranteed the rights that everyone else has. What a crazy thought that was years ago (Civil War, Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights...) and what's crazier is that today, it's still often a crazy thought. We need to respect people no matter their differences from us or others. We're all here together and we need to work together to save this planet and save ourselves from each other. If we don't start now, when will we?
So, wow. On my soapbox, and probably terribly confusing and unspecific and uncohesive and unorganized... but, you get my drift. Fight for equality, and recognize the steps that are being taken already. We just need to start jogging instead of walking.
5 comments:
You've forgive me, but I fail to see the connection between men kissing and "W" "running the country into the ground."
Do you think we'll reach a point where everyone has reached maximum rights -- that is, every individual has the maximum amount of rights "guaranteed," as you right, to them? If that happens, what then? (Don't say happiness.)
I apologize for the grammatical/spelling/usage errors.
Because W has banned same sex marriages. And no, I don't think we'll reach a point where everyone has equal rights. It's too much to ask. And if we were to reach that point, there'd be something new we'd realize isn't fair and we'd fight that. It's a never-ending battle, I'll admit, but it doesn't make it any less worthy a fight.
W isn't running the country into the ground. He's trying to make it his own country, a different country than it was meant to be. And, yes, this does involve men kissing. He thinks homosexuality is ungodly (i.e. "icky"), and brazenly curbs civil rights in the U.S. while trying to bomb democracy into Iraq. It's infantile and reprehensible. Gay rights is *the* civil rights issue of our time, and we will look back on this in 30 years with the same disdain and disbelief with which we now view Jim Crow. It's one big farce, and our chief executive is perpetuating this dysfunction.
I'm willing to admit that what he's *trying* to do in Iraq might turn out to be the best course of action 50 years out, but his present bigotry is a shrieking assault on all of us.
Oh, I disagree on all nearly all fronts here. First of all, marraige remains a matter of state law, and so all the President of the United States can do is talk about it, and we may not like what he says, but that's what he does. Says stuff.
The gay rights="civil rights movement of our time" issue is off base for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that whereas blacks were and are black because they are self-evidently black and look black, leaving no doubt as to their blackness, gay Americans' lifestyles and appearance are considerably more subtle. Furthermore, it is still a matter of debate, at least in many Americans' minds, whether or not homosexuality is a condition of birth or of choice. No one ever doubted that blackness was a matter of birth. The Jim Crow comparison is underwhelming, I think.
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