So. Today marks fifty years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality. And already, debates have emerged on whether it should be a day of celebration, a day of sadness, a day of remembrance, or simply just another day.
Firstly, I’m sure the people who fought, were imprisoned, and lost their lives to ensure we can live safely today, wouldn’t appreciate it if they knew we’d just spent today screaming at each other in our social media echo chambers. So let’s put a stop to THAT immediately. It’s easy! See that “Facebook” tab up there? Just close it.
There is no correct answer to how we should mark this day. It depends on who you are. Some LGBT people will remember, will have been alive, on this day fifty years ago. And some LGBT people are only fourteen, and are still getting their heads around Cher, never mind decriminalisation.
It’s interesting to see that unfortunately, on today of all days, there are judgements being passed, opinions being pedalled, on how we SHOULD be acting. What we SHOULD be doing. A similar thing happened at Pride around this time last month. Some were made to feel bad for reinforcing what others saw as a corporate cause.
People are perfectly entitled to commemorate things, and mark occasions, in different ways. Some people find comfort in going out and partying, and some find comfort in lighting a candle and contemplating. Who’s to say partying isn’t just as much of a valid form of remembrance as praying? It’s about how you see things isn’t it.
We have nothing to apologise for. Not one of us owes the other anything. How we behave and conduct ourselves as LGBT individuals should be entirely up to us. That’s what equality is all about.
But enough chat about pointless social media debates. What’s important here is the history. Perhaps the most important thing about it, is it helps us remember we ARE still a minority. We’re sometimes made to feel like our battle is won. And that we shouldn’t really play our discrimination cards anymore (particularly cis gay male discrimination cards) because it’s all fine now really.
Well guess what, it’s NOT! LGBT people (even cis gay men) still face discrimination in the UK on a daily basis. It’s pretty clear our current government doesn’t really give a shit about us, despite their best efforts to prove otherwise. Remember when Theresa didn’t know what the “T” stood for in LGBT? And that wasn’t fifty years ago. That was five weeks ago.
And, of course, we saw this year’s most insane and abominable political u-turn on LGBT rights just yesterday, when Donald Trump banned trans people from the US army OVER TWITTER.
So, with that in mind, as we leave work this evening, let’s remember how lucky we are to have our rights. And consider the lack of rights we still have. We should have the right to party where we want, fuck where we want, feel safe where we want, hold hands where we want, laugh where we want, cry where we want and – most importantly – eat smashed avocado where we want.
But sadly, in many parts of the UK, for various reasons, that’s still not possible. So let’s shut our laptops, put some lipstick on, pour ourselves a glass of wine, and try to change that.
