Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Amen, brother
At 17, James Neiley showed the way to present the argument for marriage equality: Real world, real life experience. In his testimony, he presented the implications of inequality that most older people would probably never even think of. If you listen closely to the questioner toward the end, you’ll hear him say that thanks to James’ testimony he could see his own kids. Moving the debate onto a discussion of what marriage equality means for real people, and not some intellectual abstraction, is the best way to move forward. While the far right talks emotive nonsense based on stereotypes or outright lies, we can counter with the real world. Understanding is the first step, and James presented an example of how to do that. Well done!
You can find the original video here.
Found at Joe.My.God
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2 comments:
I look forward to a day that "coming out" doesn't mean anything, because no one will feel a need to do it. I certainly didn't feel a need to tell everyone I'm straight!
There are actually a large number of gay and lesbian people (especially young ones) who won't use the word or self-description at all. They're not trying to hide or "pass", but they think labels are limiting. That's a huge topic, and one I'll probably take on eventually, but the thing is that at the core of this mindset is the simple assumption that of course GLBT people should be treated the same as all other citizens. We see eye-to-eye on that much, at least, and we share a lack of patience with those who stand in the way of equality. That impatience is something that others who embrace the labels—often older gay people—are sometimes too reluctant to act on, in my opinion.
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