Being Thankful Day Five: Being Proud

               It seems like every day there is a new celebrity that comes out of the closet as some form of LGBT+ and dammit that makes me happy. Not because there are more LGBT+ people in the world, that is nice, but because they are doing it with pride. From Neil Patrick Harris saying he is a “Proud gay man” to Miley Cyrus coming out as Pansexual I am thankful that they had the pride in themselves to come out and decided to share it with the world.

               I am thankful that they are showing all generations that there is nothing shameful in being who you are. I am thankful that they are showing people it is okay to come out and be who you are. I am thankful that it is no longer wrong to be out and proud. This ties in to what I said yesterday about coming out, and I mean, I am thankful to live in a world when it is okay to be you.

Being Thankful Day Four: LGBT Organizations

               It always helps to have someone on your side and organizations like GLAAD and the Human Right Campaign are the help that we need, and I am thankful that they are there. I am thankful that they take up the fight for the LGBT+ community, that they raise awareness, and sponsor wonderful events like Spirit Day.

               I am thankful for these organizations because they bring awareness to issues in the community that I may not be aware of. They also hold groups like the film and TV industry responsible for fair representation of the LGBT+ community in media. I am thankful for these organizations because they bring of the awareness they bring our struggles for workplace equality. I am thankful because these organization can be a voice for thousands in the LGBT+ community.

Being Thankful Day Two: Marriage Equality

               Friday June 26, 2015 will be a day that many in the LGBT+ community will always remember, it is the day that we got the right to marry. I will admit I was in shock. I really didn’t believe that I would see it in my lifetime and I am only 34. I expected that this would be the thing of future generations who were wiser and more learned than my own. So to see it happen was a total surprise to me. I look at Jim Obergefell who brought the case to the Supreme Court with admiration. His courage to take a stand and fight is awe inspiring.

              

I am thankful for this because as I have gotten older marriage is one of those things that I think I would consider. I spent my teens and 20s dismissing marriage as an archaic concept. Now I see it as something beautiful that exist as a symbol of love, not just a government contract. When the fight for marriage equality began it was before I came to terms with my sexuality and I remember looking at images of happy same-sex couples getting married and feeling a pang in my heart, and secretly wishing that was me one day.

I’m thankful for this because what it means beyond love. Yes love is important, and being in love is the reason you should get married, but there’s legal issues too, and marriage equality opened up a whole host of legal protections for same-sex couples. From things like being able to be by your dying partners side or being able to leave your pension to your partner in the event of your death. These are the things that we should have had a long time ago, but at least we have them now, and I’m grateful for that.