Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Day Equality and Love Defeated Bigotry and Hate



The timing couldn't have been better, coming as it did two days before the 46th anniversary of the so-called Stonewall Riots in New York City...



The revolt that is principally credited as the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States. And is celebrated every year with pride marches all over the world.

But millions and millions of LGBT Americans still had to struggle for almost half a century against the most insane and brutish bigotry, to be granted this measure of human equality. 

Same-sex couples have a Constitutional right to marry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday, ending decades of emotional and divisive wrangling over gay rights and echoing a transformational shift in American public attitudes.

Still had to wait so long for their love to be recognized as equal to those of any other people...



Wait so long to read this moving closing statement from Justice Anthony Kennedy:



Or hear their President, the first black President, call the ruling a "victory for America."

Or see their White House lit up like this...



Or just get a chance to finally say "Will you marry me?" and "I do."

As so many rushed to do as soon as the ruling was announced.



Of course, it isn't the end of the gay struggle in America, where LGBT people can now get married but can still be fired for being who they are.

The battle against bigotry and bullying will continue, as it must in this country.

Where a bigot Prime Minister has just appointed an anti-gay judge.



Whose views echo exactly the thinking of the brutish U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. 

In the course of just nine pages, Scalia calls the opinion of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, with whom he has served on the court for 28 years, “a judicial Putsch,” “pretentious,” “egotistic,” “silly,” and filled with “straining-to-be-memorable passages.”

And of course, the battle for gay rights continues all over the world where millions are still brutally oppressed...



Jailed, beaten, and even murdered with impunity for the "crime" of being gay.

But today is not a day to dwell on that horror, that LGBT people must live with all the time. 

Today is a day to celebrate another great victory in the never-ending war for equality and justice...



Today is the time to congratulate all my brothers and sisters in the U.S. for fighting so hard to make this great day arrive.

And pay tribute to their struggle for love and acceptance. 

As YouTube does here...



On Sunday I'll get another chance to celebrate that historic victory at the Gay Pride parade in Toronto.

Along with a million others, gay and straight.              

I will dance in the street. 

I will remember all those who didn't live to see this day.

And march with my brothers and sisters down that rainbow road to freedom...



You know, as I've told you before, I had to fight bigots, and bullies, and other Con scum from the age of fourteen. I had to fight for my life.

But the gay liberation movement taught me everything I know about how to fight and win. And how to NEVER give up no matter how much they might hurt you.

And for that I am eternally grateful, now that I must also struggle to help free my country from the bestial bullies of the Con regime.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a week it was...

I could have died long ago.

But I'm still fighting for justice...

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2 comments:

lagatta à montréal said...

Yes, congratulations to LGBT people in the US, and once again in Ireland. Che stronzo, questo Scalia. No, your Catholic background is no excuse; look at that Kennedy guy!

I'm glad my lesbian and gay friends in those countries (and more and more others) have the right to marry ... OR NOT!

Simon said...

hi lagatta...yes it has been a great summer so far with the victories in Ireland and the U.S. Although judging by the reaction of the right-wing extremists in Amerika, I fear something horrible might happen. And yes please do something about your paesano Scalia, because the guy is out of his mind. Still, it was a good Catholic, Anthony Kennedy, who wrote that great ruling. And yes, as I wrote in a first draft of this post, if my mother sees all those people rushing to get married, she'll be on the phone pressuring me and Seb to get married... ;)