Our laws are still broken, so why does everyone seem to be waiting for the Supreme Court to fix them? I get it, I get it -- if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rules on gay marriage it'll be a heckuva a lot easier. But honestly, the LGBT rights movement needs to stay in the drivers seat.
On Thursday SCOTUS announced that they're not going to be taking any cases on gay marriage, although there's still a few more chances this year. Should we rely on that?
So many things are up in the air. Almost everything hinges on Justice Kennedy, according to... well, everyone who analyzes these things. And even though he made the most forceful argument for us in the last two LGBT rights cases, we still have a lot to do.
For instance, even if the Supreme Court rules on gay marriage, we still have to deal with employment discrimination, public schools bullying, a huge variety of transgender issues and adoption law. Then, once we solve all the problems caused by discriminatory laws, we still have to deal with the big societal problems.
For instance, LGBT people still make less than heterosexuals, we are more likely to be homeless and more likely suffer from mental illness. For transgendered persons this is even more pronounced. That's going to take a lot more than passing a few bills -- we're talking about serious societal change here.
The African American civil rights movement won most of their SCOTUS victories in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Just look at how long it has taken to deal with the deeper issues like social inequality and police brutality in regards to race. In the 60 years since the ruling "Brown v. Board of Education" schools have become more segregated than before.
Are we really so naive to think that a SCOTUS ruling is going to solve all our problems? Well, if not -- why is everyone waiting for the "Mission Accomplished" banner to appear?
We need to get out and vote. We need to check where our candidates stand. In some cases, we need to be running for office ourselves. Our children, families, spouses and personal safety are too important to trust in the hands of others. Like I've said before, we need to stop excusing people who separate their feelings on gay people from their votes on election day. We need to make it explicit, especially in the Senate races, that people who discriminate won't get our vote and they won't get the votes of our friends and families.
Now isn't the time to relax because we're winning -- now is the time to kick our movement into overdrive.