As we all wind down from another safe and successful Pride weekend in San Diego, I can’t help but think about how the LGBT community has the power to save the world.
I am not gay. I don’t identify as LGBT.
I do identify as a staunch ally to the LGBT community and have since I was a child; having been raised by a single mother in Bakersfield, California — hardly a bastion of liberal politics — among an incredible LGBT community, thanks to my mom.
When I joined the U.S. Navy, a close family friend asked me to promise to look out for the LGBT sailors I might serve with, just as I had done in high school. I agreed.
I served for 12 years in the Navy, most of that time under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” I remember when DADT was repealed and how nothing negative happened to anyone. Sailors could finally serve as their true selves and life went on.
I also remember when sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines, including myself, were allowed to march in their uniforms in San Diego’s 2012 Pride Parade. As the lone straight, white male in the contingent, I was so proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with so many of my fellow service members who could finally stand out in the sun and shine.
The repeal of DADT and the ability to march in the Pride parade can, like so many other breakthroughs in LGBT rights, be directly attributed to the activism, and to the patriotism, of the LGBT community and us allies.
We’ve seen a slew of shootings in recent times, the latest mass shooting to rock the nation occurred the evening of June 11 at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 LGBTQA lives were taken too soon.
I saw the initial reports as I headed to bed. It wasn’t until the next morning — after waking up that Sunday and reading through all the horrific stories — that I realized the full scope of this grotesque attack on a community filled with so much love.
Later that day I had a discussion with fellow veterans who are fighting the heartless gun lobby and this time felt different.
I joined thousands of others who headed to the San Diego LGBT Community Center the next evening and heard community leaders like Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni G. Atkins, Councilmember Todd Gloria and City Commissioner Nicole Murray Ramirez speaking about this attack on the LGBT community.
Gloria asserted that this time would be different. Gun violence had struck the LGBT community and the LGBT community would not stand for it. He said that the community would not stand down, would not hide, and would fight this next fight.
There is no community that can organize and affect positive change for the world like the LGBT community.
Our country has seen an unprecedented level of gun violence, and although we’ve been lucky in San Diego of late, we remain at risk. We remain at risk because of refusal to act. Many often pretend that our political system has problems on both sides. On this issue, that is just incorrect.
The fact is that the National Rifle Association was taken over by radicals in the 1970s and has never recovered. What used to be a “sport shooting” organization quickly turned into one controlled by gun manufacturers. Only a well-organized coalition can defeat the machine they have built.
It gives me great hope that our local leaders like Atkins, Gloria and Ramirez are engaging on this.
With Atkins and Gloria all-but-guaranteed ascension, respectively, to the CA State Senate and Assembly this winter, they will have an opportunity at the state level to affect smart, principled and common sense change.
But California isn’t the problem. It’s going to take a national movement to enact national legislation. The good news is that LGBT leaders from across our nation are engaging. It’s going to take the entire LGBT community fighting in concert to protect our families.
I look forward to working with the LGBT community toward smart, principled gun laws that respect our constitutional rights, even as they respect all American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free from the danger of being gunned down in the street.
Orlando felt different.
Then again, Sandy Hook felt different too.
This time can be different. This time must be different. The LGBT community has the power to make a difference and I can’t wait to help.