Letter to the Editor: Baby steps
BY Mike Dumford, Stigler
Sunday, January 20, 2013
1/20/13 at 7:35 AM
For those who support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, 2012 was quite a year. Same-sex marriage came to Washington state, Maine, Maryland and the tropical island of Saba.
Saba is only five square miles with fewer than 2,000 residents and remembered primarily for rum and pirates. Marriage equality had no more than come to this tiny island when Cedeno Xiomar Gonzalez up and married Israel Ernesto Ruiz Pinto. Good for them. Sometimes equality takes baby steps.
President Obama was re-elected after coming out in favor of marriage equality. Minnesotans voted not to ban same-sex marriages in their constitution. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., became the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.
CNN's Anderson Cooper, Puerto Rican featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz, Good Morning America's weather anchor Sam Champion and DC Comics' Green Lantern all came out as gay. Green Lantern, however, exists only in a parallel universe, so he may not count.
JC Penney hired Ellen DeGeneres. The 30,000-member organization One Million Moms protested. Lady Gaga, a "vocal advocate" for gay rights, released her album, "Born This Way."
In St. Petersburg, a Russian court dismissed a $10.7 million lawsuit against Madonna for allegedly violating an abhorrent law known as the "homosexual propaganda law." During a concert there, Madonna had called out for equality for homosexuals.
The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals called Oklahoma County District Judge Bill Graves' decision denying a name change to a transgender woman an "abuse of authority."
Sometimes equality takes baby steps.
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