A Belated Veteran's Card- Dissolving Barriers at Home while Abroad

In a hundred years, how will historians describe our state of being—being gay in America?  I think ahead and believe that all Americans will enjoy equal rights before I die.  But, I imagine that homosexuals who lived and fought during the American Revolution anticipated equal liberties.  “As soon as the war is over, I’ll protest” I imagine that’s what they told themselves when our nation began. “There are more important things to worry about than my needs.”  Despite the "All men are created equal" and representation with taxation, homosexuals have not yet been granted the same equality as heterosexuals. 

Slowly headlines are changing while soldiers of all heritages, colors, and preferences fight side-by-side and dissolve barriers.  One result of this unification is the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  For all that people said it wasn't, it was a monumental move to provide gays with the kind of consideration that the majority of Americans enjoy and expect (and demand).  It wasn't the solution but it, ironically, started the conversation about gay rights which toppled one of the two most significant strongholds.

When our soldiers come home, will they expect Americans to practice here what it preaches there? I hope so.  I hope their collective hope causes it to be so.  Many of them will be different after viewing humans with different norms but the same universal spirit that breathes in their friends and families.

But, I can't expect and wait for these soldiers to provide all of my freedoms. They've done enough over there. It will take the majority.  Someone smarter said it first:

Bear in mind this sacred principle,
that though the will of the majority
is in all cases to prevail,
that will to be rightful must be reasonable;
that the minority possess their equal rights,
which equal law must protect,
and to violate would be oppression.              

                              -Thomas Jefferson

I embrace this quote.  A collective of this kind of someones must change policy in their world for our world.  Knowing this, I feel free to wag my metaphysical finger at heterosexuals who like and love me.

They must see that this plight is too monumental for my tiny minority. Why haven’t they friend'd each other through my Facebook collection and coordinated a protest on Washington?  Surely, they must be wondering what to get me for Pride Day.  If all of my gay-friendly friends found all of your gay-friendly friends and all of their gay-friendly friends, the nation would see the army of Americans who believe in freedom for all.  We could close this chapter of prejudice and bigotry in American history.

But, one of the other guys who contributed to the Constitution would correct me.  He would say: 

The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

                                - Benjamin Franklin 

I think Ben and Jiro would have a great conversation about self-reliance.

Perhaps us and them and even fringe dwellers in the They-Them camp can learn from the soldiers, melding and creating a new majority that ensures freedom for all Americans.  When the soldiers come home, they can say, "So, I see you guys have been cleaning (out dysfunctional ways) while we've been gone," or "This is the America I fought for."  It would be nice to give all of the soldiers the homecoming that so many have fought for since the American Revolution.

This month, two additional states voted to protect the rights of gays, granting marriage.  The nation voted for a President and Vice President who have been the first to voice support for gay marriage.  All of this happened without rioting in the streets, toppling of dictators, or rewriting the Constitution.

Hooray!

It's an evolution without a bloody revolution, “).

Note: I started this a few weeks ago when more and more people from overseas started tapping in. I assumed some of these were a result of  Support for Our Troops? (See: http://twogirlsarebetterthanone.blogspot.com/2012/10/support-our-troops.html).

I have written and rewritten this entry more times than any other entry.  I want it to be perfect, but there is so little that I know about what you do for us.  There are no, nunca, nil words that can repay you for my, our, freedoms.  I can only vote to support your care and causes, and pray that you are safe until you are with your families and your country(wo)men.  

Cheers to each of you!