Save Our Children
Dateline: 05/23/97
Anita Bryant advised us in the 70s that we must save our children. Far be it for me to suggest that she was incorrect. Indeed, she was very correct. We must save our children, and we must protect our adults.
Even though it seems that everywhere and every place we turn we are being assaulted and accused, in actuality, there has been a recent trend towards gaining the protections to which we are entitled.
The simple rights that most citizens take for granted. Not special right but equal rights.
Sadly, unless it is spelled out, it is assumed that there is no protection. As such, it remains possible in many states for somebody to be fired from their job due to their orientation. To be harassed unmercifully if they are a gay or lesbian student. To lose custody of their child.
Yet, in California legislation is pending which would ensure that gay and lesbian students are protected from acts of violence and treated with respect. One can only ponder whether this was a result of the stunning verdict in favor of Nabozny, a gay student who successfully sued his school district and was awarded damages for his school's failure to protect him from harassment, including physical brutality, or whether it is a natural progression towards a realization that a failure to state that gay and lesbian students must be protected is de facto permission to harm them. Regardless, if this bill passes and is signed, the result is a good one.
There are other victories as well. A Federal Appeals Court just struck down an Alabama statute that would have barred gay and lesbian groups from university campuses. Even in Utah, straight and gay/lesbian teachers have banded together in an attempt to end homophobia in the public schools.
Just last week Maine became the 10th state (joining California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin) to pass a Gay Civil Rights law, and New Hampshire is on the way to joining this positive trend.
However even though these positive results bring smiles to our faces, we must be ever vigilant. Students continue to be bashed for being different. Five more states banned gay marriage. For the moment however, let's not dwell on the negative, but rather, let's celebrate the positive.
In Pride,
Deborah
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