Future of Queer Activism

Hi there...

Looking at the headlines of today, 41 years since the Stonewall Riots restarted the Modern Gay Movement, we’ve come so far and, in many instances, we have so far to go. And to think of the future of Queer Activism, we have to look briefly at it’s past.

No one could’ve imagined that we’d actually be talking about same-sex marriage in the courts forty-one years ago. Yet, we are even seeing it become a reality in many parts of the world and a few parts of this country of ours. Who would’ve imagined that we would be looking at the possibility of Gays and Lesbians being able to serve openly in the military? Yet, here it is again being looked at as a soon-to-be reality. And who could’ve imagined a culture that more and more teens feel empowered enough to be able to come out in high school and even run from prom king and queen? To me, that’s the biggest victory of all.

On the other side of the coin, here we are now still fighting to stop hate crimes; still battling and lobbying and playing whatever political games we have to to get an Employment NonDiscrimination Amendment through Congress and the Senate; still have to go toe-to-toe with individuals that refuse to keep the separation between church and state be in place so that, regardless of personal views, all Americans could have the rights and liberties promised in the Constitution.

Where do we need to go from here? I believe we need to take back the power and stop being led by what the other side is doing. We need to empower ourselves enough so that we, the LGBT community, are no longer reacting but acting. We need to utilize the technology that is now at our disposal and use the social networks, the Twitters, the FaceBooks, the YouTubes in the way that we used the streets and bullhorns to win hearts, show our strength, speak out against wrongdoing and win back our rights.

I believe we need to also unite with our allies in other communities that are underrepresented and maligned in much of the same ways we are. When we stand with one another, we have that much stronger a voice. We also need to unite within our own community, setting aside our personal benefits and fight with one voice for the common goals that we all want. We all have different ways but we all want the same things, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We are at an incredible mountaintop where we can see so many struggles that we’ve fought and so many brothers and sisters that didn’t make it this far with us but we can also see a future that could include marriage equality for all couples, all people being able to serve openly and proudly, an end to this horrible pandemic of AIDS, all people being able to go to whatever jobs and not be threatened with discrimination and schools that only teach what the enigma of bullying used to be. I see a potential future of Queer Activism where myself and my fellow activists much like the soldiers in a long war are able to come home to our lives and only need to focus on teaching our children what the world was like when we used to let hate and ignorance ruin lives of our neighbors and family members.

Happy Pride

Kelly Rivera Hart