“All in the family” brings many thoughts to mind. First and foremost is the 1970’s sitcom that made fun of bigots and got us thinking about diversity. It was a stark reminder that a homogenous society in which everyone thinks, acts, dresses, and looks the same, has the same religious, moral and societal beliefs as everyone else is a dangerous thing. “All in the Family” made us realize that there are others that are not white, heterosexual males. We have to ask ourselves, however, have things really changed all that much?
Yes we have laws that protect individual rights, personal freedoms, and just about everyone and everything in our society. But there is an underlying prejudice that pervades our society despite these advances. While discrimination is much harder to legitimize, it is still quite alive and well.
The queer community is still largely unprotected and is constantly under attack by a very vocal and narrow focused minority. A day does not go by where we do not read instances of queer people being discriminated against. The queer community has come a long way since the days before the Stonewall Rebellion. Many same sex couples are getting married, raising children, and are just living their lives the way they choose to live them.
However, a majority of the queer community is not yet able to live the lives they want to due to incessant attempts to take away hard earned rights and privileges and to deny those rights and privileges enjoyed by the heterosexual community.
Marriage rights are still largely denied to most queer persons. Gay adoptions happen but are not as prevalent as those in heterosexual relationships. The right of same sex couples to raise a family under the same parameters as that of a heterosexual relationship is denied due to someone else’s definition of morality and what marriage should be and how children should be raised.
Our country was founded on the premise that all are created equal and have the freedom to express themselves as individuals. Yet the queer community is constantly under attack for being who we were born to be. We must remain diligent in our perseverance to fight back the tide of discrimination and settle for nothing less than full and equal rights in all areas of society as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.