Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Got some mail from Lambda Legal which put me on their begging list somehow. Their only tagline on the envelope is "making the case for equality" but somehow I knew it was an LGBT rights organization.

Which... is a little problematic.

The unfair legal treatment of homosexual couples and even more so society-wide discrimination against queer people generally is shocking at this stage in history, a shame, and a whole network of injustice that requires redress.

But the only people with unequal treatment? For whom equality is a crucial, ongoing fight? Not even close.

My point is not that LGBT organizations should stop using the language of equality; far from it. Instead, calling for equality should trigger the realization that we need to be in solidarity with all struggles for justice.

Practically, a rhetorical acknowledgement of the unfinished fights for racial equality and, always the next logical step in civil rights fights, for economic equality, would be a good start. Going farther means recognizing that prejudices of other kinds and poverty will prevent true equality for large numbers of LGBTQI people regardless of legal or public opinion victories on the one front of LGBTQI rights, and that these fights are ultimately shared also. Trying to make alliances and share resources with people involved in these other and broader movements will benefit straightforward LGBTQI interests most of all, in the short term. People who have somehow not formed empathy for what queer people face and what the movement for equality will have another chance for human connection and working together for a goal. Given where LGBTQI struggles are already that will have a huge impact.

The intersect of women's rights, children's rights, men's rights, families, single people, non-family groupings with LGBTQI issues is even more obvious.