Young LGBTQ people have seen profound and rapid cultural and social changes over the last decade but we shouldn’t stop pushing. There is more work to do.
Toward the end of Pride Month 2020, I reflected a lot on where we have been while grappling with the rapid cultural and social changes we have seen. 2020 has been a wild ride and June was impacted by COVID-19, civil disobedience and a national spotlight on police violence and brutality, spearheaded by the Black Lives Matter movement.
We have just surpassed the five-year anniversary of the landmark Obergefell Supreme Court decision, making marriage equality the law of the land. I think we must now do some deep reflection and chart a course of how we continue to march towards progress, equity and equality to complete a more perfect union.
I am a Black, gay millennial and community leader and I recognize that we cannot stop now. Our fight didn’t end with marriage equality or the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I am part of a generation that has seen tremendous progress. I have largely lived in a world, at least in the West, where LGBTQ acceptance is the mainstream.
I am part of the YouTube generation, where millions of people posted coming out videos showcasing that we are not alone and launched successful campaigns like #ItGetsBetter. Watching these videos helped shape my young adult life and I believe my generation slowly changed the hearts and minds of our families, friends and communities.
I will never forget sitting at my desk at work and reading the Obergefell decision with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. It felt like I was experiencing a seismic shift in what I would forever think was possible. Justice Kennedy’s profound conclusion in the Obergefell decision is something I think about a lot.
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family,” Kennedy wrote. “In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. … They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.”
I recognize that I am part of a generation whose life experience has afforded us the ability to live in a world where our LGBTQ identity is just one part of many traits that define us. LGBTQ is no longer the defining characteristic of our existence and we can choose to navigate our lives in a manner that simply did not exist even 10 years ago. For that, I am truly grateful to be alive in this era of fundamental change.
Due to COVID-19 we did not end the month of June marching in parades, dancing in the streets or attending our favorite Drag Queen Brunch spot. We did not attend remembrance vigils for the transgender lives taken from us. We did not reflect upon the brave pioneers of the early LGBTQ rights movement or experience that overwhelming sense of community that Pride gives us in person.
All is not lost, however, because I am here to recruit you. Our work continues.
Some folks are suggesting that Millennials and Gen-Zeds don’t understand the struggles of the past or present and have forgotten about the early LGBTQ civil rights movement. I think those folks are wrong. We are the generation that is demanding real structural changes and we are led by the motto of “just because it has always been, does not mean it will always be.” I am here to recruit you!
These famous words of LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk give me hope and a road map for what we can do now, as the most open-minded generation in all of human history. We must get off the sidelines and continue the work.
I believe we understand the intersectional struggle, be it for social justice, environmental justice or economic justice. Be it for Justice for Black Lives, or Trans Lives, or Black Trans Lives. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to get in the fight. We are demanding a more egalitarian society where we are all afforded dignity, liberty, happiness, freedom, equity and equality.
I am calling upon young LGBTQ people and our loving allies to join the movement in building a more perfect union. You can join a club, caucus or community organization that is working on a cause you believe in.
I am asking you to join the Pinellas County Young Democrats, or your local Black Lives Matter group. I am asking you to go visit an LGBTQ retirement community because many of our elders are experiencing loneliness in their later years. I guarantee you will leave these meetings with new friends and learning something on the way.
I am asking you to volunteer at your local LGBTQ center and work with homeless teens who may be trying to rebuild their lives with a chosen family because their families have abandoned them. I am asking you to VOTE! We need to engage in elections because the people that we send to City Hall, or State House and Senate, or to Congress, or the White House matters. Elections matter. Elections have consequences.
I am here to recruit you. It is so ordered.
Johnny Boykins is the president of the Pinellas County Young Democrats, a husband, bow tie aficionado, amateur chef and U.S. Coast Guard veteran. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Pinellas Democratic Party. Learn more at PinellasYoungDems.org.
