The state of Arkansas recently turned the clock back several decades on LGBT equality.
While efforts to ban LGBT discrimination have been blossoming — from legislatures to judiciaries to workplaces to classrooms — across the nation, the state adopted a law banning municipalities from enacting nondiscrimination policies that encompass classes of people not already protected under state law (a lot of words that basically read: “LGBT”). And sadly, Arkansas is not alone, as several other states are considering following its “lead.”
The whole effort is disturbing and disappointing. As LGBT people and same-sex couples are finally beginning to enjoy some of the rights they should have long-ago been guaranteed — a movement that in many places is changing hearts and minds and engendering the respect that all people deserve — states like Arkansas are digging in their heels and refusing to move forward with the rest of the country.
And, this is an issue on which the vast majority of people — even those who may oppose marriage rights for same-sex couples — often agree: People should be not fired from a job, evicted from an apartment or booted from a public space solely for their sexual orientation or gender identity. To pretend otherwise is bad for business, bad for tourism, bad for the economy and simply counterintuitive to the way our country works.
But the effort also reeks of desperation, which seems to be the only silver lining in this situation.
This law and other similar initiatives read like last-ditch efforts by policymakers who have seen the writing on the wall. As state after state sanctions marriage equality, and LGBT people no longer hold the fear and stigma in the American mind that they once did, leaders are scrambling to rebuild the rhetoric that the LGBT community is an enemy — to freedom, to religion and to morality. Without an identifiable entity as the threat to society, these lawmakers could have to face the reality that they themselves are the impediment to American growth.
Institutionalized discrimination is surely alive and well in our country, but it’s also a sinking ship. Here’s to hoping it sinks quickly.