Merry Christmas to all LesbianNews readers! To celebrate Christmas Day, we thought you would appreciate this video by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, “2015: The Year That Changed the World for LGBT People,” which shows 13 LGBT milestones that changed the world in 2015.
More importantly, the video also shows news coverage on six reasons why the battle for LGBT rights isn’t over yet.
A number of LGBT milestones for 2015
As the LA LGBT Center notes, 2015 was a banner year for LGBT people– from marriage equality to an end on the military ban on transgender people.
Even as popular culture and public opinion increased their support of the LGBT, the Supreme Court gave gays and lesbians the right to wed last June. Meanwhile, corporate advocacy defeated state religious-freedom laws that defend discrimination.
There are more than 450 openly-gay elected US officials while the US became the first country in the world to have a dedicated special envoy for LGBTI human rights.
Over it all, we appreciate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s recognition of the LGBT people in their June decision.
He said, “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.”
“Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right,” the US justice said.
Not optimistic for more LGBT milestones
However, the fight isn’t over yet despite the progress made. Philip Elliott of Time Magazine reported that 2016 may not have as much good news.
“We don’t have time to sit around and pat ourselves on our backs,” said Aisha Moodie-Mills, the president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute.
“As we’re doing that, our opposition is running vile, hateful, nasty campaigns and getting rid of basic human-rights protections,” Aisha added.
Philip noted that, “Washington politics remains deadlocked, with Republicans unwilling to back advocates’ next big goal: a law that would make it illegal to fire, evict or expel LGBT individuals because of who they are. Odds aren’t much better in cities or states, either.”
He further said, “Most advocates agree that the fight will have to take hold outside Washington, where the discussion continues but little else is happening. There are no federal non-discrimination laws for LGBT Americans, and the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling only made things murkier.”
“The oft-cited example is that a gay man can marry his husband on Saturday, be evicted from his home on Sunday and be fired from his job on Monday,” he reported.
LGBT milestones leading to a finish line
Still, there is hope coming into the new year. According to a recent Gallup survey, a record 60 percent of Americans now support same-sex marriage from 50 percent in 2012, and 40 percent in 2009.
“It was a huge victory. But the fear that many of us have is that many of us think that’s the end game,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (Wis-D), who is one of the openly gay legislators.
“When you achieve something that you thought was fanciful much quicker than you imagined was possible, that tells you you’re on a really impressive arc. There’s no doubt that we are clearly at a tipping point, but a tipping point is not a finish line,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
You can check out the LA LGBT Center’s video on the LGBT milestones below:
