In the 1980s, Wisconsinites proudly proclaimed their home to be “the gay rights state.” Such a proclamation today would not make much sense compared to the significant social progress made in Vermont, Maine, Iowa and California. However, in 1981, Wisconsin was indeed the first state in the union to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Back then, like today, many civil rights advocates felt the wind at their back and were confident that the long-held prejudice toward homosexuals was evaporating. Progress has been stymied since Wisconsin’s infamous constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, passed in November 2006.
Along with the success of similar legislation in other states — most notably Proposition 8 in California — the movement for LGBT equality across the country has experienced an intense backlash. On the local level, however, there has been cause for renewed optimism. Democrats are often loath to pursue the matter as forthrightly or confidently as non-aligned leftists, so members of Progressive Dane have led the effort in passing substantive local legislation imbuing same-sex couples with long-denied basic rights. [Full Disclosure: Sam Stevenson is a member of Student Progressive Dane, though this piece is an expression of his opinion and not necessarily that of SPD — Ed.]
Originally authored by then-District 5 County Supervisor Ashok Kumar, an Equal Benefits Ordinance and Domestic Partnership Registry were passed in Dane County last year. The legislation in part requires that contractors doing business with Dane County provide domestic partnership benefits for their employees. In addition to the negligible cost to the contractors, the ordinance also experienced considerable pushback from members of the liberal caucus as well as the predictable opposition from the fundamentalist right. The ordinance faltered for many months until it was successfully introduced and championed in 2008 by County Board members Chuck Erickson and Kyle Richmond, both of Progressive Dane, with help from Board Chairman Scott McDonell. Building a better home for oneself is one of the great opportunities involved in local political participation; it can often facilitate broader change. Indeed, Wisconsin now has a state Domestic Partnership Registry.
The success of the Equal Benefits Ordinance exemplifies the need for progressive politicians and citizens to pressure Democratic officials to protect the underprivileged and advance progressive causes. Without the earnest effort of progressives, there is little hope anything but the most piecemeal solutions will be realized at the local, state and national level. For that effort to be successful, an untethered passion for justice is required.
For members of the LGBT community, as well as straight allies, it’s important to recognize that opposition to basic civil rights legislation is the product of bigotry and ignorance. Regardless of the petty arguments involving fiscal concerns or religious objections, opponents of equality are simply scared of social change. It is no longer possible to even pretend that euphemized objections to LGBT rights are legitimate. And regardless of the right’s reasoning, the transparent bankruptcy of their ideas has made them irrelevant to rational discussion. What is truly needed is a strategy that pulls no punches and righteously appeals to the pinnacle of our national power structure.
From Maine to Wisconsin to California, LGBT rights advocates have been playing a pyrrhic ping-pong game with a conservative establishment happy to bleed the movement of tens of millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours. Advances are made and then pushed back by well-funded reactionaries. What if the civil rights movement of the 1960s had pursued a state-by-state strategy? Not only would racism have been legitimized as a federalist characteristic but progress toward equality would have likely been set back decades. The LGBT rights movement must be orchestrated at the national level.
Unfortunately, the current White House administration has expressed only lukewarm intentions to advance LGBT rights, while Congressional Democrats — even the gay ones — have followed suit. In this context, the National Equality March next month (Oct. 10-11) will be of great importance as advocates attempt to bring urgent moral clarity to one of the great civil rights issues of our time.
Looking back at Wisconsin’s historic constitutional setback of 2006, we must recognize the little things that might have dramatically altered the outcome. If even the most fervid advocates of the gay marriage ban had realized they were interacting with gays and lesbians on a daily basis, often within their friend groups and families, they might have grasped the brutalizing nature of that legislation.
That is why more than ever it is crucial LGBT citizens come out to everyone we know and encourage our chums and loved ones — the uninformed multitudes still riding the fence — to recognize the immense damage that denying civil rights entails. Justice does not come to those who simply wait, and we mustn’t allow ourselves to equate slight progress with imminent liberation. Pursuit of equality at the national level coupled with a vigorous confidence in youthful activism constitutes the surefire way to justice and liberty for all, in this lifetime.
Sam Stevenson ([email protected]) is a graduate student in public health.
