by Nicole Hsiang
June is the month of Pride in San Francisco, during which queer and LGBT people celebrate and make visible their stories, experiences, and communities. It is a declaration that the queer, LGBT identified community will not be silenced, marginalized, or homogenized. Yet to me, Pride isn’t a holiday for people who are queer, but for all people who are proud to be different. Pride is about erasing societal boundaries, forcing each of us to rethink our concept of what is deemed “normal.”
While we push to assert our differences, at the same time the very definition of the word “normal” is changing. In California, any two people who want to get married, now can. This revolutionary idea was put into action at city halls across the state when yesterday, the first official day that members of the same sex could legally marry, amongst cheering crowds of friends, families and supporters.
The staff of the Agape Foundation went to City Hall in San Francisco yesterday to attend the wedding of two former Agape Board Members, Carol Cantwell and Rachel Lanzerotti, who were just one out of dozens same-sex couples marrying in the beautiful rotunda room. As I watched Carol and Rachel exchange their heartfelt vows, I marveled at how natural and right it felt, because this is the way it always should have been. The state will issue marriage licenses to same-gender and mixed gender partnerships alike. It’s as if they’re just different flavors of ice cream.
Lifelong partners and community activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon became the first lesbian couple to marry in San Francisco after being together more than 50 years. Both in their 80’s, the couple never thought they’d live to see the day they could legally marry. I, on the other hand, at 24 am still young, and for most of my life I will see and attend same sex marriages. When I turn 50, perhaps the younger generations will not know what the world was like before queer people had the same rights as heterosexuals.
Our children’s history textbooks will paint a picture about one point in time when same-sex marriage was illegal, and how it took the combined efforts of many to change that. They will learn that for all the freedoms we enjoy, there were people before us who envisioned, organized and struggled to create a more peaceful and just world. And these are the people that we need to support and fund today in order to change the future.
The Agape Foundation has a lot to be proud of, having funded a number of grassroots organizations over the years that advocate for the rights of LGBT people, such as:
Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), Spring 1997
COLAGE is the only national organization in the world specifically supporting children, youth and adults with LGBTQ parent(s). Using their experiences and creativity, COLAGE offers a diverse array of community building opportunities, education, leadership development and advocacy by and for folks with LGBTQ parents.
Bay Area Gay Straight Alliance Network, Spring 1999
Gay-Straight Alliance Network is a youth leadership organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and to community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, and training, GSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening, and sustaining GSAs and builds the capacity of GSAs to make schools safe environments free of homophobia.
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Greater Sacramento Chapter, Fall 2000
GLSEN is an organization for students, parents, and teachers that tries to affect positive change in schools. They offer information on what you can do in your state to advocate against homophobic violence in schools.
International Lesbian and Gay Association Global Gay Summit, Spring 2001
The International Lesbian and Gay Association is a world-wide network of national and local groups dedicated to achieving equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people everywhere.
Orange County Dyke March, Fall 2003
Orange County Dyke March is a grassroots organization which facilitates progressive social change by empowering lesbian women, bisexual women, and transgender women to fight discrimination, harassment, and anti-gay violence on the job, in schools, in families, and throughout Orange County.
United Genders of the Universe!, Fall 2004 and Spring 2006
This group’s mission is to create a genuinely supportive, mutually empowering community where genderqueer, transgender, intersex, and non-binary-gendered people can feel safe, heal from experiences of social isolation, grow, and connect to a broad diversity of people. Through speakers bureaus and support groups, their further goal is to actively promote the acceptance of different gender identities in the larger community.
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP), Fall 2007
QWOCMAP promotes the creation, exhibition and distribution of new films and videos that increase the visibility of queer women of color, authentically reflect their life stories, and address the vital social justice issues that concern their communities.
Without organizations like these, the queer community would not have a visible presence in society. Unlike race, queer identity can be hidden in the closet out of the fear of hatred, rejection, discrimination, and violence. When people unite to support one another and create spaces to explore their identities, they make it safer for others to join them.
This Pride, have fun enjoying the many queer events happening throughout the month: the National Queer Arts Festival, Frameline LGBT film festival, Trans March, Dyke March, and the Pride parade. I especially urge you to do something that is out of your comfort range or on a topic you want to learn more about. Pride isn’t just a cause to celebrate, but an opportunity to challenge, resist, and make change.
Tags: city hall, LGBT, pride, queer, same-sex marriage, san francisco
I would like to see the inscription “to be continied”:-D