Michelle Obama spoke out against the wave of anti-LGBT “religious freedom” bills moving through state legislatures across the country while delivering the commencement address at Jackson State University in Mississippi…. “If we fail to exercise our fundamental right to vote, then I guarantee that so much of the progress we’ve fought for will be under threat,” the first lady said Saturday. “Congress will still be gridlocked. Statehouses will continue to roll back voting rights and write discrimination into the law. We see it right here in Mississippi — just two weeks ago — how swiftly progress can hurtle backward, how easy it is to single out a small group and marginalize them because of who they are or who they love.”…. “So we’ve got to stand side by side with all our neighbors — straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender; Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu immigrant, Native American — because the march for civil rights isn’t just about African-Americans, it’s about all Americans,” she added. “It’s about making things more just, more equal, more free for all our kids and grandkids. That’s the story you all have the opportunity to write. That’s what this historic university has prepared you to do.”
It should be shocking that we’re having this conversation, that here in the 21st century we’re talking about discriminating against a class of people simply because of who they are. Those of us who grew up during the 60s could be forgiven for thinking that, since that battle for civil rights has long since been won, the battle for equality of treatment was over.
Wrong. WAY wrong. Not only hasn’t the Civil Rights really, truly been won, today’s struggle for LGBT rights proves that the collective heart of darkness hasn’t been defeated…and quite possibly never will be. Half a century ago, African-Americans fought, and on numerous occasions died, for equal rights. What’s left of that struggle now are skirmishes that crop up over things like voting rights, which may seem like a small thing until you remember that the right to vote is a key component of democracy. Those who are allowed to vote determine the direction this country takes. If a predominantly Conservative White power structure is able to rig the game in a way that disenfranchises African-Americans, they win- for years and perhaps even generations.
Today, the LGBT community is fighting for the same thing African-Americans continue to pursue- equal rights. They want (and should be able to expect) the same rights other Americans take for granted. Marriage equality until recently had been the most visible front on which this conflict raged, but it’s not close to being the only source of conflict. The latest flashpoint is the issue of which restrooms transgender individuals should be allowed to use. Yes, you read that correctly; we’ve reached the point where those who advocate for “small government” and “getting government off our backs” have decided it’s OK to insert the power of the state into which potty a person is legally entitled to use. Even worse, they deride those who oppose such “common sense” legislation as “bullies.”
The Mississippi measure, called the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, allows individuals and organizations to use religion as a justification to discriminate against LGBT people.
More than 100 anti-LGBT measures are currently being considered across 22 states. Earlier this week, the U.K. issued a travel warning to LGBT travelers who “may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi.” The measures have also prompted a wave of boycotts of the states by businesses and entertainers.
I can only speak for myself, but I’m frankly embarrassed that we’ve sunk to this level. We’ve been reduced to arguing over who gets to use which restroom, not the sort of thing a reasonable person would expect their tax dollars to be used for. Republicans claim it’s about “protecting the sanctity of public restrooms” and “protecting innocent women and children from sexual predators”- the implication being that transgender women are actually men looking to satisfy their sick, perverted urges. In fact, the vast majority of such predators are heterosexual males. The threat posed by transgender individuals is virtually nil, and “bathroom bills” represent more than anything a solution in search of a problem. The short version is that they’re just another attempt to marginalize the LGBT community and legally establish transgender individuals as “less than” and thus unworthy of the same legal protections that accrue as a matter of course to good, decent, STRAIGHT- you know, “normal”- people.
I could go on at some considerable length about the injustice of it all, which I’ve done previously. There’s another way to look at this problem, though. Rather than decrying those who’d legalize discrimination based on “sincerely held religious convictions,” (code for “people who hate those who love differently”) there’s a way Americans could ensure this sort of madness never happens again.
We could get off our asses and vote. Rare is the American election in which voter turnout exceeds 50%; that this isn’t universally considered to be an embarrassment is a shame. This may seem trite, but it’s true: When we decide not to vote, we allow others to make decisions for us. Elections are occasions when we collectively make decisions about what sort of country we want to be and what our priorities should be. Those who decline to exercise their franchise forfeit their right to help determine that direction. If good and decent people bothered to vote in places like North Carolina and Mississippi (and other red states), neither voter ID nor bathroom laws would see the light of day…because those who pass such monstrosities into law would never be elected. Not voting is to pave the way for those who believe it to be their right to force their narrow moral/ideological/theological framework upon all. It’s how we’ve ended up with voter ID laws, bathroom bills, personhood amendments, and religious freedom bills, among other efforts to provide bigotry, hatred, and religious zealotry with the force of law.
By declining to exercise our franchise, we acquiesce to those with an agenda being allowed free reign to pursue their goals and to create a legal system which defines some as more equal than others. We allow those concerned primarily with their own self-interest and ideology to pursue policies that benefit the few over the many. We permit zealots and ideologues to pursue without hindrance their desire to force all of us to live under the tyranny of their narrow moral/ideological/theological framework.
The good news is that we don’t have to allow the current state of affairs to continue. All we have to do is get off our asses and vote.
