Gay Rights are Human Rights

One of the biggest problems facing the LGBT community today is not the need for civil rights legislation. Instead it is the fact that it is a community that not aware of the rights that it already has.  Rightfully, gay rights activists cry out against laws preventing same sex couples from marrying their partners or legislation that would declare existing unions to be null and void; but they are laboring in darkness when the light switch is right there in front of them. The basic right to marry is already granted to all citizens under the United States Constitution, and any legislation enacted to prevent any citizen from marrying or to deny a married couple the benefits of such a legal union is a violation of basic civil rights. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the state governments to decide on the issue, or for the religious right to push for changes to the constitution that would further foster discrimination, the community should be doing something about it now. This should not consist of merely protesting, it should be demanding. And if the demands go unmet, the rights should be exercised anyway. If the states refuse to comply, then the next step is not to continue making the request. Instead, we should be banding together to file a class action lawsuit against the government for their discriminatory practices.

In the first place, before change can occur, we must stop thinking of ourselves as gay, lesbian or transgendered individuals. This sort of labeling serves no purpose but to confirm our status as minorities. And it is a self-imposed status that is only valid if it is accepted by the community as valid. LGBT individuals are not a “minority group.”  We are American citizens who happen to choose to exercise our free rights granted to us under the constitution to partake in whatever form of sexual behavior we choose to participate in within the privacy of our own homes. Preferring homosexual sex does not make a person less of a citizen any more than preferring Chinese food over American food.  So why accept these labels? Accepting the status quo did not lead to the formation of a new country as a means to escape the persecutions of the old world, nor did it lead to the end of slavery or voting rights for women or any of a number of dramatic shifts in prevailing ideology.  Revolution and change cannot occur in stasis.