Here it is: the long-secret GAY AGENDA made public.
Wake up
Maybe work out
Get kids to school
Work
Make dinner
Soccer
Help kids with homework
Clean up
Sleep
Below the fold: a progress report
The good and the bad:
WAKE UP - I happen to own my own home, so I'm at little risk of housing discrimination. But in my state and at the Federal level, there are no laws protecting me if I needed to rent. I could be denied housing, charged more rent, or be subjected to discriminatory rental terms because I'm LGBT. My city is one of a handful in this state that have local non-discrimination ordinances, so if I tried to rent here and was turned down for being Too Gay, the landlord would be subject to a small fine.
GET KIDS TO SCHOOL - I'm lucky to be able to choose a good public school district for my kids. Our local district has non-discrimination policies, so my kids will be treated fairly even though they're straight and even though I'm not. But even in my district, LGBT kids are subjected to bullying, and there's only so much the district can do to protect them without backlash from the conservative State government.
WORK - I work for a Fortune 500 company with a strong non-discrimination policy. It's both comforting and disturbing to remember that I have more rights as a corporate employee than I do as a citizen of my home state or as a natural-born American. My boss isn't allowed to fire me for being gay because our company wouldn't let him. But millions of others in my State and across the country have no such protection. There are efforts at the Federal (ENDA) and State level to treat gay rights as civil rights in employment, but a conservative majority in our State legislature and a conservative minority in the US Senate have so far blocked workplace equality for most of us.
HELP KIDS WITH HOMEWORK - I'm a single parent in a lucky situation. My kids' mom never chose to challenge my custody of our kids, and never claimed that my being queer could make me an unfit parent. But if she (or anyone else) ever had, there are no protections in this State or in this country to prevent me losing my own children because of who I am.
CLEAN UP AND GO TO SLEEP - Alone. I'm single (as in not dating) by choice; being a working single parent is hard work and takes up almost all of my time. But I'm single (as in not married) by act of Congress. Any partner I might meet would have to stay no more than a boyfriend; we're not in one of the lucky states where we could be legally recognized in a marriage or a civil union. An hour down the road is the bridge to Canada, where we could be full and equal citizens; but even if we were married there, we would still be legally unrelated when we came back here.
I am thrilled by the recent incremental victories for LGBT civil rights that we've seen in the Supreme Court and in neighboring states and countries. The progress that's been made since Stonewall, since Lawrence, and since DOMA is enough to get me a bit teary. But on this US Independence Day I can't help being reminded of the limits on my and my family's freedom. I'm free to be queer and they're free to be straight; but we're not free to be treated as our neighbors equals by the laws of our home state or by many of the laws of our native country.
I'm grateful to everyone here who is commited to the proposition that ALL of us are created equal, and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights. Let's keep pushing our country to live up to its ideals.