About seven years ago, I wrote in this space that gay marriage would happen and it would come in about eight years, state by state. My reasoning behind what was a bold statement at the time was based on our history.
The basic civil-rights battle for the gay and lesbian community, in most places, starts with a simple addition to the region’s laws banning discrimination, similar to those outlawed already for race, religion, etc. Our successes, and not all have been successful, come with a big dose of education. That education comes, at times, from media attention to that battle.
That attention, which can sometimes be hurtful and hateful, still brings about something very important: It makes people talk in their places of worship, their homes and on the job. Somewhere, somehow, eventually someone will say I know a gay man or lesbian and that might be someone’s first knowledge of a gay person. That starts the process of us not being invisible.
Likewise are the demonstrations in favor of our rights. Seeing those broadcasts or pictures of LGBT people in newspapers makes mainstream America more familiar with us. As I wrote a few months ago, many of us are still in the closet and there are still many out there who believe they have never met us. The media attention changes all that. It also allows a thinking person to realize the truth: It’s simply a civil-rights issue.
This week’s debate in the New York Senate about gay marriage makes this crystal clear. The controversy is no longer about us as gay people — it’s about money. The last issue to resolve to pass gay marriage was how to protect the financial interest of religious organizations. New Yorkers have been debating this issue long enough that it has surpassed knowing the community to the point of just an assurance that it will not affect the dollars for the church.
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at [email protected].