LGBT equality only matter of time

By Brooke Boniface

In a much overdue move this past Thursday, President Obama ordered that all "Medicare-Medicaid hospitals, which include most of the nation's facilities, may not deny visitation and consultation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability," according to Time magazine.

This, in combination with the recent push from Admiral Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, seems to be ushering in a new era of civil rights legislation. An era defined by equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and a phasing out of homophobia in this nation.

But for those who oppose extending civil rights to every person, never fear, every cloud has a silver lining.

Love Honor Cherish, a grassroots organization based in Los Angeles founded to fight Proposition 8, announced on April 12 that they did not gather the necessary signatures to place an initiative to repeal Prop 8 on the ballot in 2010.

This means that homosexuals in California will have to wait until at least 2012 in order to include marriage among their newly acquired civil rights.

Prop 8 was passed in Nov. 2008 with 52 percent of voters in favor, but in recent polls the majority of Californians now say that they support marriage rights for same sex couples.

Thus, the efforts by Love Honor Cherish and 40 other groups fighting to repeal Prop 8 would have been crucial and most likely successful, had the measure made it onto the ballot for 2010.

Despite this setback, Love Honor Cherish board member Lester Aponte says, "We were determined to act affirmatively to achieve equality and we will continue to do that until Prop 8 has been finally repealed."

Because of California election laws the measure can no longer be on the ballot in 2010, but the group pledges its continued dedication and involvement to repeal Prop 8 in the 2012 general election.

When I was first made aware of this news, I was disheartened and angry. Of course, another liberal group is disorganized and ineffective. If this group was not able to garner enough signatures to get on the ballot, how would they be able to run a full blown campaign to pass the measure?

But after hearing about Obama's order, the progressive moves by Mullen and Gates and the recent poll which showed a "six percent increase in (California for) support of equal marriage rights in just the last year," I decided to look on the bright side.

The political and social climate of America is currently in flux. Homophobia is no longer the golden ticket to access conservative voters and is actually more likely to elicit negative press than support.

As more and more people feel comfortable coming out of the closet, those who formerly opposed gay rights legislation now realize that they have friends, family members and peers who are LGBT. With this comes acceptance and assistance, as most people are uncomfortable denying equal rights to people they know and love.

Frank Rich, a columnist for the New York Times, believes "explicit anti-gay animus is an albatross, those who oppose gay civil rights are driven to invent ever loopier rationales for denying those rights, whether in the military or in marriage." Opponents' arguments against same sex marriage and civil liberties for homosexuals will soon be stripped of all logic once the prejudice that lies beneath is exposed.

If we continue on this path, in our lifetime we will see all LGBT granted their fully deserved, natural civil rights. It may not be today or tomorrow or even in five years, but it will be soon. And to me, that seems like a pretty big silver lining on a small and diminishing cloud.

Brooke Boniface is a sophomore history and political science double major.