Stonewall, Pride Month, and the Activism That’s Still Changing the World – The New Republic

Of course, there is so much more to do. We need to pass federal civil rights laws, such as the Equality Act now pending in the Senate, and comparable measures at the state and local levels. We need to continue to grow the voices of support—businesses, faith leaders, and houses of worship, schools, medical and public health authorities, and so on. We need to tackle the political dysfunction that has the Senate, Republican-controlled and gerrymandered state legislatures, and too many judges and justices way out of step with the vast majority of Americans who have come, since Stonewall, to support the full inclusion and legal equality of LGBTQ people. And because, in addition to good laws, we want good lives, we must make change felt in every community, every part of the country, and every corner of the globe.

In that work, the marriage lift has proven to be the gift that keeps on giving. The support, the allies, and assets the marriage work brought to our cause are now there as we work to defeat attacks—the wave of anti-gay and anti-trans legislation we see in several states; the effort to carve out licenses to discriminate under the banner of religious freedom; the continuing isolation and stigma too many LGBT individuals continue to endure; and even the similar barrage against immigrants, people of color, and women’s empowerment. All of this takes activism.

In ordinary times, I might just stop this piece there: celebrating our history and progress and summoning people to continued activism. But of course, these are not ordinary times. We are only now emerging, somewhat nervously, from the pandemic—thank you, science and activist government. And while, fortunately, we have elected a president and, by the slimmest of margins, a Congress that aim to undo the damage of the previous regime and build back better, America faces an even bigger threat to our national health than Covid-19: the threat to our democracy itself. The viruses of authoritarianism and division still rage in our body politic, the Republican Party has declared war on our system itself, and if we don’t cure the illness and vaccinate against the agents and enablers of infection, we may lose all.

So, important as activism is, this Pride Month we need to talk not just about activism but about the need for serious repair to the system within which activism can prevail.