Gay Rights in the U.S. -- Introduction

Over the past few months, I've had a few lengthy discussions with different friends on separate occasions, going into great detail about the status of LGBT rights in the United States. In each case, it seemed that my friends, though supportive, weren't necessarily informed; people seemed surprised to learn just what the real situation is. And I for my part was somewhat surprised to find out what my friends didn't know.

But in having the same discussions several times, it made me stop and think. It made me realize that, of course, there's really no reason for a straight friend to be truly aware of gay issues; they aren't things with the potential to affect his or her daily life.

I do understand that equality for the LGBT community isn't a top priority for everyone. But the mathematics of it are stark and simple -- there aren't that many of us. (Most studies estimate that we make up around 3.5% of the population.) If we're the only ones who truly make LGBT rights a priority, the only ones out there taking steps to change things, we'll never be enough to make the difference. To bring about change, we have to encourage as many of our friends and family as possible to at least bump our issues a little higher up on their lists.

So as I said, I've been having conversations with friends, and it has made me realize that the "lower interest" that I might have in some cases mistaken for a lack of caring was really just about a lack of knowledge. And I think that may in part stem from the fact that my accepting friends and family have, in their minds, already moved on. My differences simply are not an issue to them (in the good way), and so it's easy to forget that they are still a very big issue in the world at large (in the bad way).

All this in turn made me think that I really ought to have a similar conversation with everyone I know and let everyone know where things really stand. While I'd be more than happy to do that at length with each and every person I know, one on one, I thought maybe it would be good to devote a few posts here on the blog to the subject as well.

There's a lot to cover, enough that I'm sure no one would read a single massive post that detailed everything. So I'm going to break it up in pieces (and space it out over a few weeks with my normal lightweight content, so as not to get everybody -- myself included -- majorly depressed for days on end).

So look for this series in the days ahead. And thanks for reading.