There are plenty of folks, however, who believe in civil rights for all, yet haven’t turned out to protest NOM or Proposition 8. This is understandable: “Marriage equality” is a strange rallying cry for 18- to 22-year-olds who most likely won’t be getting married until after graduation, if then. I suspect I’m like many other college students in that I support marriage equality, but I want to see as much money and media attention as is devoted to same-sex marriage focused on issues that more immediately affect my peers and me. And believe me: There are plenty of those issues.
To begin with, it is legal in 30 states to fire employees on the basis of sexual orientation and in 38 states to fire employees on the basis of gender identity. LGBT Americans may not serve openly in the armed forces. In 18 states, homophobia-motivated crimes are not classed as “hate crimes” like crimes motivated by racism or xenophobia are; in 39 states, the same is true for transphobia-motivated crimes. Transgender people face immense legal difficulties in changing their names and legal documents to reflect their correct gender, and health insurance frequently doesn’t cover the high medical costs of a physical gender transition. LGBT Americans — particularly LGBT youth — are more likely to be depressed or suicidal than their straight peers. They are more likely to be homeless or living in poverty. They are the targets of harassment and discrimination on a daily basis. It’s not easy to be openly gay in America, even if you don’t want to get married.
Thanks to civil rights activists working long before any current Princeton undergraduate was born, it is possible for queer youth to live out and proud lives to an extent that it wasn’t 30 years ago. But as long as being LGBT means second-class citizenship, more progress must be made. Some change can be enacted through laws and policy proposals, but broader societal support for those laws and policy proposals is essential if they’re to be effective. And sometimes getting that support really does necessitate marching in the streets.
On Oct. 11, thousands of people who believe in civil rights for all will converge on Washington, D.C. They’re participants in a National Equality March, which will wind its way through downtown Washington and culminate in a rally at the Capitol. The march has one demand — “Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states, now” — with which it aims to transcend disagreements about which particular aspect of LGBT equality should be the first priority.
While disparate battles continue to be fought in Congress and the courts, in school board meetings and in conversations with neighbors, this march aims to demonstrate the urgency of and the widespread support for ensuring that all Americans are accorded the equal protection under the law to which the Constitution entitles us. There hasn’t been a major national march for LGBT equality since 2000, before same-sex marriage was legal in any state and before sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional. Now that there’s a new set of issues to grapple with, it is time to call upon every American who cares about civil rights to march on the Capitol once more.
Some activists have argued that a march is a frivolous gesture that would draw supporters of LGBT rights away from important political battles being waged in their home states. Others have argued that it’s more productive to lobby the president and Congress directly. But if you were able to ask the Bonus Army that marched on Washington in 1932, the participants in the 1963 civil rights March on Washington — which culminated in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech — or the millions of concerned citizens, many of them students, who marched repeatedly against the Vietnam War, I think they would say that there doesn’t have to be a tradeoff between legislative battles and exercising the right of the people to peaceably assemble. I think they would tell you that the time for a march is always now. The lawyers will wage their battles and the politicians theirs and the lobbyists theirs. But sometimes you personally have to testify to injustice. Sometimes you have to bear witness. Sometimes you just have to march.
Emily Rutherford is a sophomore from San Diego. She can be reached at erutherf@princeton.edu.
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