
{"id":3901,"date":"2008-11-13T08:09:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-13T16:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3901"},"modified":"2008-11-13T08:53:06","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T16:53:06","slug":"happy-and-sad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/11\/13\/happy-and-sad\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy and sad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Lydia Lavelle<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Election day 2008 was an historic day for all Americans. Last week, a Washington Post cartoon by Tom Toles depicted Barack Obama standing in front of a gigantic White House, his luggage strap over his shoulder. The top caption read, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hold these truths to be self-evident \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that all men are created equal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and at the bottom were the words, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ratified November 4, 2008.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What a powerful cartoon!<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nUnfortunately, for a number of Americans, all men (and women) are still not created equal. While one discriminatory barrier was being knocked over last week, others were being built. <\/p>\n<p>On Election Day, voters in California passed Proposition 8, titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by a 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent margin, despite the fact that in May the California Supreme Court ruled that limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. Attorney Evon Wolfson, an opponent of Prop 8, summed up the central issue: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is something wrong with putting the rights of a minority up to a majority vote.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Quite a paradox in this historic year.<\/p>\n<p>Voters in Florida and Arkansas passed similar measures last week against same-sex marriage (joining more than 40 states with such bans, including North Carolina), but the significance of what happened in California cannot be overstated. While equal marriage rights still exist in Massachusetts and Connecticut, losing the California battle is discouraging because California has long been the vanguard. It is indicative of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153two steps forward, one step back\u00e2\u20ac\u009d progress of this movement. Every step of the way, lesbians and gays are reminded that our rights are not yet self-evident as we continue to fight for anti-bullying protection, the repeal of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Ask, Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Tell\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or, in the absence of marriage, to gain domestic partnership rights.<\/p>\n<p>Another setback last week was that voters in Arkansas passed a ban on unmarried adoption \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in essence, a vote to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children. Florida is the only state with a harsher measure; theirs strictly prohibits adoption by gays and lesbians. It should be self-evident that it is wrong to legislate that gays and lesbians cannot be good parents.<\/p>\n<p>Even in liberal Carrboro, where I write these words and acknowledge publicly that I have a female partner and family, equal rights issues get minimized. I recently argued (congenially) with Mayor Mark Chilton about his support for gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, pointing out McCrory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s abysmal record pertaining to gays and lesbians, but to no avail. While I understood much of Mark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reasoning, it was disappointing. If our fair-minded, LGBT-supportive mayor misses the importance and urgency of these issues, how long will it be before the need for equal rights for this minority group becomes self-evident to the majority? <\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese consoled the LBGT population last week with these words: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everything we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned points to one simple fact: people who know us are more likely to support our equality. In recent years, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been delivering this positive message: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTell your story. Share who you are \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 as our families become more familiar, support for us increases.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 And so, I too am encouraging all gay and lesbian persons to heed these words, in whatever way their life circumstances allow.<\/p>\n<p>And now more than ever, we need our straight allies to help in our fight for equal rights. Ours will be a long, hard journey. Please join us. Sign up for emails from Equality NC  (equalitync.org), keep abreast of current issues and lend your vocal and financial support to this effort.<\/p>\n<p>I am encouraged by what I have read, heard and seen from President-elect Obama with regard to LGBT rights. We have the chance to make great strides on these issues in the next four years. But it will require all of us to pay attention, be aware and advocate for the rights of another minority. The need is self-evident.<\/p>\n<p><em>Lydia Lavelle is the dean of student affairs at N.C.Central University School of Law and serves on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lydia Lavelle Election day 2008 was an historic day for all Americans. Last week, a Washington Post cartoon by Tom Toles depicted Barack Obama standing in front of a gigantic White House, his luggage strap over his shoulder. The top caption read, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hold these truths to be self-evident \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that all men are&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3953,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3901\/revisions\/3953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}