This week was a big week for the global LGBT community. Yesterday, Argentina made it easier for transgendered individuals to obtain hormone therapies and sex change operations. A few days before that, the US state of North Carolina banned gay marriage and civil unions. Is it just me or does something sound wrong here? In Argentina, “Senators approved the Gender Identity law by a vote of 55-0.” 55-0? I can’t imagine that unanimity happening with any positive legislature for the LGBT in this country…
It is reported that Argentina’s President Christina Fernandez is looking forward to signing the bill. She is proud of it just like the bill she signed two years ago making Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage… Wait a second… Let me get this strait. In Argentina gay marriage is legal AND they have a WOMAN for a president? Whoa…
“For many, gender rights were the next step.” Gender rights? Really? Because in this country many citizens still consider the transgendered community to be less than equal; entities that are sometimes treated as subhuman. Just a few days ago, North Carolina voters ruled 39% to 61% to change the verbiage of their state’s constitution to define the “only legal domestic partnership” as a partnership between a man and a woman.
Though the puritanical reign is obviously still very much in control it appears to be getting desperate. When individual state legislatures take backwards steps as other states make progress and favor equal rights for the LGBT community, it only makes the oppositional states, like North Carolina, look out of touch with reality. What logical grounds are they using to make these decisions? Oh, that’s right… the Bible.
The Bible is much like the Constitution: they are both open for interpretation. Unfortunately many of the Bible’s “believers” manipulate its text in the same way an attorney scours the law to find loopholes. These believers only see the Bible as open for interpretation when it gives credence to their agenda.
The United States was formed and founded on religious freedom and upholds the separation of church and state. Based on the actions of certain states, it seems that there must be a hidden clause the Constitution that says “as a US citizen, you are granted tolerance and religious freedom…unless your state’s rule is dominated by a popular Christian sect.”
I look forward to the day when gay marriage is legal and the members of the LGBT community are treated with dignity because despite all this noise, it is inevitable. I am confident that one day, these antagonists of progress will universally appear as bigoted as the mid-century opponents of the civil rights movement.