Victories and defeats for GBLT people in the US elections

Let us begin with the good news

Gay friendly and openly gay people win in NC and Houston.

Kalamazoo protects GBLT people from discrimination

Washington expands GBLT rights

Then the awfully bad news.

And there was a deeply disappointing and wounding defeat in Maine Again the love and families of gay people have been cast aside by the forces of hate and bigotry. The campaign against such simple need for love and security was virulent and poisonous. Homophobia struck a strong blow.

And it’s not just marriage rights. It’s the message that has been said. Maine cannot say that they disapprove of gay people being treated as second class, they cannot say they disapprove of or condemn gays being devalued or othered - because their own law books say it’s ok. You can’t say that gay people are equal - in rights, value or as citizens - if your laws are bigoted against gays. The messages don’t match. And on the back of such messages, the othered and devalued homosexuals suffer.

Like California, Arizona, Florida and so many others, the people of Maine have legitimised homophobia. And that is terrifying.


Rights should not be subject to mob rule

And this is wrong. ALL of it is wrong. From Kalamazoo to Washington to Maine (not including the gay friendly and openly gay candidates since that’s separate). GBLT people should not be having to fight for basic human rights through the ballot box. Rights should not be subject to popular vote! Mob rule should not be able to strip people of their rights, their protections and their equality - that’s what human rights are FOR. Last night, GBLT people should not have been on the edges of their seat worrying about whether the majority would allow them to be treated like equal citizens or not.

I have said this before. The empowered majority does not NEED rights not to be discriminated against. Those who dominate the land do not need rights to protect them from discrimination. They do not need rights to ensure they are treated as well as their fellow citizens.

Because they’re the ones in power. They are protected, as a group, through their privilege.

Rights against discrimination exist to protect those who are marginalised, who face bigotry and prejudice on a wide scale. Rights against discrimination exist to protect the minorities, the weak, the hated from the dominant, the powerful, the majority. There’s a reason why equal rights battles are fought through courts and legislatures and not referendums - because if the majority of the people respected our rights and our equality WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO FIGHT.

To put these rights up for the vote makes a mockery of the very concept of these rights. There is no right if it can be brushed aside by mob rule. These votes - even the victories - create the dangerous ground where the safety, equality and rights of marginalised people last only so long as the privileged allow them to.

Keep Fighting

Remember, there were more victories than defeats yesterday. And yes, the Maine defeat is heartbreaking but the margin was close! The momentum is still very much pro-GBLT. It's not going as smoothly as it could - but it is going. Step by step


'Fierce advocacy'
It’s also disappointing to see how little support the campaign received from the ‘fierce advocate’
It’s reported that the DNC not only added neither money nor endorsement to the anti-gay marriage law but also worked to encourage Mainers to get involved in New Jersey’s elections

Why I care: gay man attacked in London

Why I care: the violence is continuing
Gay man is victim of a homophobic attack in Illford, London.

It’s reported (from London, but I doubt the rest of the country is much better) that homophobic hate crime is up 18%. Again this may be due to a greater degree of reporting - but this is worrying.

We seem to be targeted more and more - and this is why it is important to fight inequality wherever it appears, whatever it is about and whoever it comes from. Because the violence comes from an atmosphere that supports it and nurtures it.

The violence won’t stop until we are seen as equals and as people of worth

GBLT news snippets and a case to watch

First of all some good news: Scotland is going to give Lesbians equal IVF rights to heterosexual women. Excellent - lesbians have as much worth, skill and ability as women and mothers as heterosexuals. About time this homophobic assumption that our families and our abilities as parents are worth less than heterosexuals.

The Catholic church, naturally, is vehemently opposed. Their spokesman said:
“frivolous waste of money on people who have chosen a lifestyle that is incompatible with having children.”

No surprises there - I’m told the homophobia that seems to so dominate the Catholic church is the minority - I have my doubts since so much of the organisation is universally and uncompromisingly homophobic. I am becoming ever more thankful that the Catholic church becomes increasingly less relevant with every passing year



Then there’s the case of Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who decided she would only do her job (providing civil marriages) when it fit her RELIGIOUS beliefs.


I wrote about this before when she won her Employment Tribunal in an act of supreme silliness that was wonderfully lampooned here. Basically, Ms. Ladele, a civil registrar, wants to only legally ratify marriages (you know, her JOB) that agree with her religious beliefs. Thankfully for most of the nation, despite the many civil marriages in the UK that should be in conflict with her religious beliefs (marriages of other religions, marriages of people who divorced, marriages of the non-religious, any marriage she is called to make legal that hasn‘t been performed in a church by a member of the clergy) she really only cares about us nasty homos marrying.

Anyway, it seems the council appealed and the Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed that having all NON-RELIGIOUS CIVIL marriages subject to Ms. Ladele’s (or any other registrar for that matter - can you imagine the fuss is a fundamentalist Muslim registrar refused to marry women who weren’t attired to his standards of propriety?) religious test would be rather silly and reversed the decision.

She is now appealing again and it’ll be interesting what the result is. Her winning could be an interesting and worrisome precedent. Let us wait and see if they decide that:

“Perhaps Ladele can reconvene the tribunal and tell them that, as a Christian, she objects to all secular marriage ceremonies and therefore cannot, onaccount of her religion, officiate at any of them. To make her do so would be discriminatory, as would sacking her. She has the human right to be a marriage registrar and refuse to sanction all secular marriages; to just sit at her desk playing online Sudoku all year while feverishly rubbing her crucifix." - Rod Liddle

Is a sensible position