Tolerance is key to promoting equality

Because of a long history of culture and tradition instilling intolerance towards gays and lesbians, Americans are grappling with the acceptance of homosexuality.America has seen 13,389 gay servicemen discharged due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. While DADT was intended to serve as a transition to allowing homosexual to serve openly, seventeen years have passed since it was enacted.

Meanwhile, the legality of same-sex marriage is still being disputed in individual states and on a federal level. This has forced same-sex couples to choose between leaving their homes for a state that performs same sex marriages or living in limbo in a place that will not equally recognize their relationship.

Hate crimes continue on a disturbingly regular basis. From the violent murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998 to the recent increase in the number children committing suicide after ridicule at school, the conflicts are widespread and not disappearing. This year’s controversy over Constance McMillen’s wish to wear a tuxedo and bring a girl to her prom was a chilling reminder of the intolerance that still exists.

All of this controversy begs these questions: Why does it even matter? How does one person’s attraction to another of the same gender impact “normal” lifestyles?

The answer is simple: It doesn’t. The reality is that conservatives who vote in favor of measures promoting a ban on “gay-anything” view homosexuality as an abnormality and a threat to traditional values.

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is based on the idea that homosexuals serving in the military affect its morale and performance. But the idea that homosexuals enlist simply to be among members of the same gender is offensive.

The same sentiment can be extended to those who voted in favor of Proposition 8 in California, which basically put a heterosexual copyright on the word “marriage.” Why do heterosexual married couples care about how a same-sex couple defines its relationship? Marriage, for a majority of couples, is entered into because the two individuals taking the new step in their relationship are in love. Why is there a need to promote a “separate but equal” title?

It’s disturbing to know that Americans are easily distracted and disillusioned by the idea of homosexuals living among them. Whether America wants to admit it or not, homosexuals are today’s second-class citizens. What’s more disheartening is that even as political will grows to repeal discriminatory policies, there will still be an unwillingness to accept homosexuals as equal.

What America is in desperate need of is not something one can vote on, but something that must be learned: Tolerance.

It’s absurd to think that a community whose symbol is a rainbow would be intent on destroying the cultures and traditions of those around them.