Legislation is moving forward in Indiana that would drastically turn the tide backward for LGBT progress — a trend that, despite impressive leaps elsewhere, seems to be gaining momentum across the nation.
As state after state banishes marriage discrimination from its books, anti-LGBT lawmakers are quickly mobilizing to retain whatever vestiges of LGBT oppression they can. In Indiana, that came in the form of a bill that would authorize businesses to refuse service to LGBT people solely because of their religious beliefs. Similar measures are gaining speed in states across the country. California has an even more troublesome problem: The state’s very lenient ballot-proposal process has led to a ballot initiative calling for gays to be put to death.
This is all happening while the U.S. Supreme Court could potentially sanction same-sex marriage nationwide this summer, and we’re seeing record LGBT representation in American media, growing numbers of LGBT elected officials and innumerable other LGBT wins. Locally, Philadelphia is preparing to paint eight crosswalks in the middle of Center City rainbow colors, to signify a very visible and permanent LGBT welcome.
There seems to be a vast disparity between the progress and the pitfalls — and that chasm may signify the depth of the work that remains for the LGBT-rights movement. Just as desegregation laws didn’t abolish deep-held and institutionalized racism, formalizing LGBT acceptance clearly doesn’t mandate tolerance.
While the pushback is revealing, it also presents an opportunity for the LGBT community to revisit its goals, priorities and focal points — the messages that need to be projected and the strategies for making those ideas relatable and relevant. And, perhaps we can learn from the evolution of other movements over the last few decades: Once laws began changing, how did other minority or oppressed groups overcome backward momentum, as the most rabid of opponents saw the writing on the wall and attempted last-gasp efforts?
Time could be a big factor, as could cross-community and intergenerational cooperation.
Whatever the strategy, the current tenor of the country makes it clear that the conversation on minority oppression is an ever-evolving one that we must keep fueling.