Looking Forward: The Human Rights Fight

The Facebook status updates have been pouring in. The Twitterverse is all a-flurry. Everyone’s talking about it. We lost in Maine.

It’s true. It’s a big loss. Maine would have been the first state in the history of the nation to pass a gay marriage law by popular vote. We’re the kids on the softball team that have been sent home from the public park while the other team gets to hang our loss over our heads for the rest of the season.

It’s important to remember though, that every team has their season. Even more importantly, losing one game doesn’t mean we won’t make the playoffs, and it definitely doesn’t mean we’re ruled out of the championship.

Let’s talk about victory:

• Referendum 71, though not as celebrated as gay marriage battle in Maine, is projected to win — even if by a narrow margin. If this passes, Washington state will be the first state to approve gay-equality by direct will of the people, rather than the court or legislature.

• For the third time in Chapel Hill, N.C. history, an openly gay candidate has been elected mayor. Congratulations to Mark Kleinschmidt.

• Kalamazoo, MI passed Ordinance 1856, which included sexual orientation and gender identity under the umbrella of protection against housing and employment discrimination. In addition, Kalamazoo, MI elected its first, openly gay city official — Terry Kuseske

• St. Petersburg, FL saw an openly gay candidate capture more than 60% of the vote for its city council. Steve Kornell may now undertake the battle for that city’s residents to establish Gay Pride events, which have historically been rejected by that city’s officials.

• Detroit has elected, Charles Pugh, an openly gay man, to city council President. When asked how he felt about his victory, Pugh, who has suffered terrible setbacks in the last year due to personal reasons, stated, “This is unbelievable… It means Detroit has really wanted change for a very long time.”

• Although Jon Corzine, a staunch gay rights ally, has been unseated as New Jersey’s governor, New Jersey voters can still expect to vote on a bill between now and January that will bring gay marriage to New Jersey. Garden State Equality, a gay rights advocacy group based in NJ, has already begun running ads in support of the bill.

• Salt Lake City received its first openly gay council member on Tuesday, when Stan Penfold was elected to the district 3 seat representing the Avenues and Capitol Hill.

The fight for women’s suffrage, the fight for racial/ethnic equality, the fight for immigration reform, the fight for the rights of those whom faced mental/physical disabilities — none of these struggles ended over night. Every last one of them took generations upon generations. In addition, none of those struggles are over, just as the human rights struggle will not magically end all inequality with the flick of a pen.

Let us lick our wounds. Let us collect our efforts. Let us look forward to the next challenge. We’re not out of the playoffs, hell the season is just beginning — and we’re damned sure not out of the championship.