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Alexandra Tashman: LGBT issues not limited to marriage equality

By Alexandra Tashman

April 3, 2013 12:59 a.m.

Approximately 2.7 million Americans changed their profile pictures last week to some variation of the Human Rights Campaign’s red equal sign in support of same-sex marriage, according to estimates from Facebook.

For many Americans, myself included, there is no doubt that marriage equality is an essential component in securing complete legal equality for members of the LGBT community.

However, regardless of whether the legal status of same-sex marriage changes, there are still greater issues facing the LGBT community that must be addressed.

These are issues – discrimination, homelessness and bullying – that affect the day-to-day lives of many members of the LGBT community around the country, but are often dwarfed by the rhetoric surrounding same-sex marriage.

It’s not that the push for marriage equality isn’t important – it’s that marriage dominates the conversation regarding LGBT issues in such a way that many other practical issues remain less recognized.

If you’re in favor of same-sex marriage, the good news is that overcoming the legal hurdles facing marriage equality seems an eventuality at this point. With 53 percent of Americans – a majority – supporting the cause, it is quite possible that the Defense of Marriage Act will be disassembled in coming years.

Yet LGBT community members still face many challenges, which include the threat of forced conversion “therapy” and possible loss of employment and housing among many others. Clearly, there are plenty of other issues that directly affect the quality of life of the LGBT community that are not limited to marriage alone.

Many straight people, allies or otherwise, never stop to think about the fact that our culture is dominated by a heteronormative bias, something members of the LGBT community are forced to confront daily.

For example, something as mundane as dorm housing can become a bigger struggle, since college-bound LGBT students often have to think about whether they’ll need to alter their housing based on the prejudices of others.

Luckily, in trying to confront this heteronormative bias, UCLA students have access to a wide variety of resources, including the LGBT resource center on campus and options like gender-inclusive housing.

But while such support systems demonstrate a campus proactivity toward LGBT issues, it doesn’t detract from the fact that LGBT Bruins, like the LGBT community at large, struggle with interpersonal prejudice regardless of institutional protections.

Arguably, students even have to combat forms of discrimination here at UCLA, as seen through Project 1’s decision to withdraw from the Community Programs Office after alleging that it is not a safe space for LGBT students.

In 2011, more than 20 percent of hate crimes reported by the FBI were centered on sexual orientation, and transgender individuals still face regular discrimination nationwide.

Furthermore, with estimates of 20 to 40 percent of homeless youth in America identifying as members of the LGBT community, there are equally pressing and devastating issues that ought to be more evenly pursued by both members of the LGBT community and allies.

It is very easy to change your profile picture in favor of same-sex marriage, particularly if you’re not a member of the LGBT community.

After all, it’s a remarkably simple way of letting your Internet friends know you’re politically correct without tangibly doing anything to help the cause.

Sure, drawing attention to an issue is an important form of activism.

But actually marching, calling your congressman or donating money to LGBT organizations are far more effective means of supporting this cause and the LGBT community as a whole.

However, creating real, long-lasting changes that will improve the quality of life for the LGBT community requires more than physical activism. Thinking critically about assumptions regarding gender and recognizing the existence of a cultural heteronormative bias is the only active effort that will help turn intolerance into acceptance.

Marriage equality is a good first step, but it isn’t an end-all. Until all legal inequalities are purged from our government, and prejudice and discrimination are tackled in a straightforward manner, there will always be more work to be done.

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