Is it the right time to push for change?

When people ask me... Why are you advocating for international LGBT human rights...when we have many fights here in the U.S. like marriage equality, the dissolving of voting rights act protections, discrimination and trans inclusion, the right for LGBT parents to adopt through government systems?  It is not the right time for this discussion."

Is it ever the 'right time' to advocate for civil or human rights?  If activists of the past had decided to wait for the best time to protest many great movements, that have moved countries forward toward progress, would never had happened.  I advocate through my writing because the cause is something that I deeply care about and because the cause is just.  The effort to liberate others who are living in oppressive environments is central to creating a new vision of society that is built on equality.  The struggle is a touchstone for all of us, as a global society, if we are to move forward.

Personally, I work toward these ends because I can and many others can't for fear of violent retribution.  I make a choice to care about a discrimination that seems so overwhelming and impervious to change.  I have always believed in the power of peaceful social movements which put the needs of the whole above the needs of the one.  Maybe we are not global yet but I believe we will be someday so until then my message may help to build a foundation for future action.

Is it the right time to push for change?  We may never know; but in my view...it is always the right time to teach appreciation for diversity and to stand by a human ethic of equality and justice.


(Written on the day of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.)