Ranting On...the Sad Truth About Gay Rights in America

I've been trying to form an opinion on the boycott of the Russian Olympics that has been pushed forward by many members of the GLBTA community, and have struggled quite a bit with it.  I will admit, right now, that I haven't decided whether I will be able to watch next February.  The idea of skipping the Olympics is a blasphemous thought to me-like the Oscars and Election night, I watch the Olympics religiously-I plan for it for weeks, I learn about the American athletes and their chances, and I watch, every night, from beginning to end.  The Olympics is particularly important to me because it reminds me of my family.  Even now, it seems like something that I would watch with my parents and little brother during the winter, sitting on the floor of our family room and watching my mom cry every time the national anthem played or discussing with my brother past Olympics that we'd seen (it's a nostalgic time).

But one of the things I do want to point out, considering the way that the American media has reacted, it's a little unnerving to see how they seem to think that we've hit the home stretch on gay rights when we A) have so many mountains left to climb until GLBT citizens are equal under the law and B) have made most of our progress relatively recently.  That second one is particularly funny, considering that we hadn't had a president who supported gay marriage until...last year.  And same sex activity has been legal nationally...since 2003.

So while I'm still waiting and hoping that Russia will change their archaic and discriminatory attitude toward gay rights, I figured I'd check in on the mountains that are still left to climb for GLBT Americans in our own backyard.

Gay Marriage: With the recent additions of Delaware and Minnesota, thirteen states now have gay marriage.  That's great progress, and almost 100 million people now live in states that recognize gay marriage.

But on the flip side of that, 70% of the United States population do not live in states that recognize gay marriage.  37 states do not have legalized gay marriage, as well as every U.S. territory.  It's also worth noting that, barring a Supreme Court victory of some sort, not many of these remaining 37 states are going to be an easy get for gay rights activists.  Hawaii and Illinois both are definite possibilities, and with Democrats likely to take the governor's race in Pennsylvania with pro-gay marriage Allyson Schwartz, the Keystone State could also be amongst them.  But even blue states like, say New Jersey, where the citizens could easily get gay marriage if they tossed out Gov. Chris Christie for Barbara Buono, seem to not be interested.

Gay Adoption: 22 states in the country have complete joint adoption available for their citizens, as well as the District of Columbia and Guam.  That leaves, despite what Mitt Romney has stated, inversely 28 states where gay or stepparent adoption is either not addressed by state law or where it is expressly prohibited.  States as varied on the political spectrum as Michigan, Ohio, Utah, and Louisiana have laws on the book that prohibit adoption by gay couples.  Again, several of these states (Ohio and Michigan) could likely overturn this if they had a Democratic governor.  But it's worth noting that this is an issue that is undecided in a number of states, and one that those crusading for gay rights should keep in mind.

Employment Discrimination: 21 states in the country have laws on the book protecting gay and lesbian people from employment discrimination, and 17 (as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have gender identity protection.  This means that in 29 states for gay people and 33 states for transgender people, there is no legal protection for hardworking members of the job market based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

As an insurance policy to avoid going into hyperbole (this site isn't FOX News), I will state that this doesn't necessarily mean that they can be fired willy-nilly in these states (I suspect that in a civil suit, you could go to trial over being fired for being gay in most every state in the union and have a decent shot at winning), but the point is there is no legal protection for such a measure, and in a country where DADT was on the books two years ago, I wouldn't want to take many chances.

Hate Crime Legislation: 31 states have coverage of sexual orientation within their Hate Crime legislation, while only 16 cover transgender and gender-identity.  I know that Hate Crime legislation is a fairly controversial topic, even amongst some on the left, but I tend to agree with the pro-Hate Crime side of the debate that crimes against a particular group of people inflect more societal harm and inflict distinct emotional harm on their victims (to paraphrase Chief Justice Rehnquist).

With this in mind, it seems more than appropriate that GLBT individuals be a part of this legislation.  Some of the more liberal states that have skipped dually covering both gender identity and sexual orientation include Maine, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Housing: One of the weirdest laws that you would assume is on the books is housing discrimination.  Only seventeen states and Puerto Rico currently have laws on the books that protect gay and transgendered people from being discriminated against in regard to housing (Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, and New Hampshire protect only on sexual identity, not gender identity).  This is a law that is very much drawn on political lines, with no random red state included, though once again Michigan and Pennsylvania continue to be very much behind the times in regard to gay rights, despite their Democratic presidential streak.

Sodomy Laws: Lawrence vs. Texas has outlawed anti-sodomy laws, but that doesn't mean that some of the laws are still on the book, and while it has no practical effect, it is still a huge blotch on the states of Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah that they have such a discriminatory and bigoted law in their state.  Recently, a number of states have taken to removing pre-Civil Rights era legislation from their state's law; it would be a great gesture if these states did the same with anti-sodomy laws.

So, while we have made a lot of progress in America (and I have effectively skirted the "Boycott the Olympics" argument...for now), you can see that we have an incredible amount of work to do still in this country.  Only the District of Columbia and eight states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) have every one of these laws passed for their GLBT citizens.  If you're in one of the other 42 states, though, we still have a lot of work to do.