On Friday, the Supreme Court finally ruled that, whaddayaknow, the Constitution protects the right to same-sex marriage. This historic endorsement of humanity was celebrated on Sunday in New York City, where elated Pride marchers and onlookers chanted:
âWhat do we want?
âMarriage equality!
âWhen did we get it?
âFRIDAY!
I watched the parade from a rooftop on Christopher Street in the West Villageâwhere a thick sea of rainbow flooded the concrete, making it virtually impossible to move between noon and 6 p.m.âoverjoyed by the legendary ruling that made this yearâs Pride that much prouder. As I waved my technicolor flag in the air, though, my heart got heavyââItâs so not over,â I thought, âI really hope people realize itâs so far from over.â
Iâm not a gay rights activist or a gay icon (yet), and I donât want to overstate my authority on LGBT issues. But if I learned anything from âBefore We Were Queerââa fantastic womenâs, gender, and sexuality studies senior seminar I took this springâitâs that marriage equality was/is not the most pressing issue the LBQT community faces. In fact, many queer activists and scholars have vehemently arraigned same-sex marriage advocacy over the yearsâin their essay âMarriage Will Never Set Us Free,â for example, Dean Spade and Craig Willse write, âSame-sex marriage advocacy has accomplished an amazing feat–it has made being anti-homophobic synonymous with being pro-marriage. It has drowned out centuries of critical thinking and activism against the racialized, colonial, and patriarchal processes of state regulation of family and gender through marriage.â Spade and Willseâs critique evolves from the idea thatârather than concentrating on the matrimony of same-sex couples with enough access to marryâwe should be focusing our civil attention on the members of the LBGT community susceptible to the cruelest exhibits of homophobia and transphobia, like, say, the nationâs huge population of homeless gay and trans* youth.
Iâm thrilled by Fridayâs Supreme Court injunction. While I vibe almost wholeheartedly with Spade and Willseâand while, as a function of my own values which echo their core arguments, I never intend to marryâI think itâs good that #love(finally)wins. But I know now that marriage equality is not the most important item on the LGBT activist agenda. Indeed, the fight for LGBT rights is far from over. Why?
1. Queer And Trans* Youth Are Homeless.
Almost halfâaround 40%âof homeless youth identify as LGBT, a particularly shocking statistic when you remember that only about 5 to 7% of the nationâs youth identify as LGBT. Of those homeless LGBT youth, 68% were rejected by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identification, and 54% were emotionally, physically, or sexually abused by a family member. The disproportionate criminalization of gay and trans* youth is directly related to the issue of homelessness. LGBT youth entering the juvenile justice system are more than twice as likely as their straight counterparts to have experienced family conflict, abuse, and homelessnessâ300,000 gay and trans* youth are arrested and/or detained yearly, and while, again, they comprise only 5 to 7% of the nationâs overall youth population, they comprise 13 to 15% of the juvenile justice system.
2. All Forms Of Oppression Are Interwoven; LGBT People Of Color Face Further Hate.
Consider that more than 60% of those unfairly criminalized LGBT youth are Black or Latinoâunsurprisingly, gay and trans* youth of color are significantly more vulnerable to injustice than their white counterparts. Now, consider that LGBT people of color are almost twice as likely to experience physical violence compared to white LGBT survivors and victims. Finally, consider that, in 2012, a rattling 73.1% of all anti-LGBT hate violence homicides targeted people of color. Gay/*trans + POC = …you do the math.
3. Federal Law Does Not Protect LGBT People Against Housing Discrimination.
…And neither does the majority of our 50 states. Believe it or not, sexual orientation is not one of the âprotected classesâ included in the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1968), meaning that no federal law proscribes refusing to sell/rent to negotiate with home buyers based on their LBGT status. As a result, sellers/renters nationwide are at liberty to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender orientationâand even in many of states that bar this kind of prejudice, these antidiscrimination laws are far from well-enforced (the punishment for violating a city ordinance is, often, no more serious than a traffic violation).
4. LGBT People Are Poor.
In a similar vein, LGBT people experience significant workplace discrimination, largely because our country doesnât have the proper state and federal antidiscrimination laws in place to punish employers for refusing to hire and/or firing employees based on their sexual orientation. As a result of employment discrimination, homelessness, and lack of health insurance (LGBT adults, unsurprisingly, are not âcoveredâ as sweepingly as straight adults), queer and trans* people are particularly vulnerable to economic inequality. Lesbians couples in particular are far more susceptible to poverty than heterosexual couplesâ9.4% of lesbian families live under the poverty line, compared to 6.7% of straight families. And the children of these households? They’re twice as likely to live in poverty as their friends with heterosexual parents. Lesbian senior citizens donât have it too easy, eitherâtheyâre also twice as likely to be poor as compared to straight, married couples. As you can imagine, these statistics only inflate for LGBT people of color.
5. Trans* People Are Invisible.
Chew on this: 41% of trans* people report having attempted suicideâthatâs compared to 1.6% of the general population. Maybe thatâs because so many live in extreme povertyâtheyâre four times as likely as the general population to have a yearly household income of under $10,000. Or maybe thatâs because most trans* peopleâ78%âwere harassed by teachers and students during their K-12 years by reason of their gender identity. Or maybe thatâs because a heart-breaking 50% of trans* people have been raped or sexually assaulted by a romantic partner. Whatever the case, trans* people are denied their humanity largely through lack of visibilityâthrough lack of inclusion in the battle for LBGT rights. We wonât have equalityâwe wonât really be able to wave our technicolor flags in the airâbefore the T is fully welcomed into the LGBT rainbow fold.