Moving in the right direction

Blogs like this are places to explore issues and ideas, as much as talk about things going on. That’s especially true for me this month: June is Gay Pride Month and this year, for no particular reason, I decided to publish a “Gay A Day” post. So, each day I’ve tried to post at least one thing relating to GLBT people—politics, culture, general politics as it relates to GLBT people, etc. (though I still post about other things, too).

So I was pleased when I saw that Roger Green asked an interesting question on his blog—not just because it was something I could take up here, but also because it’s especially relevant to my project for this month—for a couple reasons.

On his blog, Roger listed some encouraging developments in the struggle for GLBT rights, then wrote:

“So I’m feeling encouraged that, in the clichéd language of the pollsters, the country is ‘moving in the right direction’ on gay rights. What says you?”

On balance, I’m still hopeful—despite everything. I believe that the reason that the anti-gay industry has raised the volume of its vitriol, and why they’ve started saying ever more outrageous things, is precisely because they’re losing, and they know it.

Despite their best efforts to stop simple justice for GLBT people, polls show growing acceptance of gay people generally and for marriage equality specifically. In 2008 they famously got Prop 8 passed in California, and they’ve won a couple victories since. But now a clear majority of Americans favour marriage equality, and if you look more broadly at the numbers of Americans who support some sort of legal relationship for same-sex relationships, you’re at super-majority levels of support.

While the anti-gay industry knows their power and influence have already peaked, they’re still dangerous, and things could still reverse; that risk is why I continue to hammer the anti-gay industry for defaming gay people, for spreading lies and deliberate disinformation, and for their hypocrisy. Before the anti-gay industry’s last gasp, I think there will be more losses to them.

This means that for some GLBT people, things will get worse before they get better. But even in such places, victory is inevitable because the force of history is on our side, on the side of fairness and justice, and not on the side of hatred and bigotry.

So, I do think the country is moving in the right direction on gay rights (though not fast enough, of course). It’s especially appropriate that one of Roger’s posts should serve as the inspiration for me talking about this topic. As I see it, this inevitable victory is being particularly helped along by people like Roger: Straight Christians who put their commitment to justice out there for all to see, living their faith, being an example for others who have not yet spoken up. There are more people like Roger than anyone realises, far more than there are members of the anti-gay industry. That’s why I remain optimistic and why I believe we’re on the right track. Ultimately, we’ll prevail—together.

Update: Check out Roger's follow-on post on his other blog.