Matthew Shepard's ashes were interred this week at the National Episcopal Cathedral.
A bright spot because the interment is not only fitting and respectful, but it also serves as a strong message to all fundamentalist christians that they do not speak for all people of faith. Especially in view of the fact that Matthew's parents legitimately feared that any grave or memorial site would very likely be vandalized.
That is a sad commentary on the state of our world.
Over the past twenty years we LGBT folks have seen so much progress: we've won Supreme Court victories, we've gotten marriage equality, we've had LGBT celebrities come out, we see sympathetic, multi-dimensional and mainstream LGBT characters on TV and in movies. We've gotten the sense that we've arrived, that we are not only tolerated, but accepted and even admired; that the world we live in has become safer and more enlightened and that our country's values have evolved.
UNTIL the new wave of hatred, intolerance and bigotry arrived on the heels of this current president's campaign, beginning in June of 2015.
The floodgates were opened further on election day 2016, when many of his supporters felt that their hateful opinions were given legitimacy and they became hell-bent on un-doing and destroying everything that Mathew Shepard and the LGBT community had fought for and achieved.
It is just inconceivable how we have arrived at this place.
It is wrong and discouraging that we should have to see our fortress being dismantled piece by piece, or that we should have to fight the good fight all over again.
And all those allies and friends sometimes really don't seem to fully get it. There is danger afoot in this administration and among it's rabid supporters. Stay vigilant.
We will not be shaken, we will be strong. Stay strong my friends, stay strong.
2 comments:
This still breaks one’s heart. Finally safe.
It's ironic that we should be facing the things you mentioned after all we waited and struggled so long to achieve. But it should not be surprising - blacks and women and Jews and other groups have continued to face prejudice, even violence, long after their civil rights and equality before the law were assured.
The arc of history may very well bend toward justice in the long run - but there are many ebbs and flows along the way.
If the upcoming midterm election does not break the rightwing stranglehold on our government, then I am afraid things will get worse before they get better.
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