As gay and lesbian people, this should be our mantra: no more and no less.
I can't take credit for it--I recently watched a video and read a comment on Advocate.com that used the five little words--but these words immediately resonated with me. They may be little (the largest no more than four letters), but they are powerful, and they mean the world to us.
They were used in conjunction with what gay and lesbian people expect from our societies, our cultures, and our world. Whenever someone puts down our expectations and says we want special rights and privileges, over and above other people and other minorities, our response should be, all we want is no more and no less than what everyone else has.
It's not about special rights and privileges. It's about equal rights and privileges. It's about human rights, our human rights. That's all. Nothing more.
It's not to much to expect.
What bugs me are the people who think that us having no more and no less means that they will somehow have less anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever and perceptive comment, A Strange Boy. You've hit it exactly. Unfortunately, we live in a culture where people think giving to one group necessitates taking away from or depriving another, which, of course, is utter nonsense. There's enough to go around for everyone, but so many people are insecure and think only of themselves.
ReplyDeleteA great example is legalizing gay marriage in some states in the U.S. The religious fanatics think giving gay and lesbian people the right to marry takes away from the sanctity of their own marriages, which, again, is utter nonsense. When will some people get that changing one for the better doesn't have to change the other for the worse?
Thanks for your thought provoking comment. I really appreciate it.