GenQ - For the not so straight individual

It's a well known fact that I myself am a bit of a couch potato. I love sitting there, or lying there, for hours watching DVD's and the odd reality show. But something struck me the other day while watching the Simpsons; which incidentally is one of my favourite shows. Why as a gay person do I pay for ?breeders? taxes? And let me say here before I offend anyone too much, that the term ?Breeders? is a direct quote from the show. Here I am watching Simpsons and the entire populace of Springfield USA decides they shouldn't have to pay for all the costs of families just because some politician decided they could get extra votes for it.

Perhaps it seems a little far fetched that just because we don't need a service personally, that as a community we shouldn't pay for it, but it got me to thinking? Why is it that all the politicians pander to all these other groups but not the gay community? What have the politicians ever done for our community? Do we as a community have less of a need? Perhaps less of a want? Or is it more that we as a community are totally apathetic when it comes to fighting for our rights? Oh sure we all want to be married and have the same rights as other minority groups, but how many of us actually stand up for it?

In a snap poll I did of all my gay friends, both of them replied, ?Never been to a rally, never vote on gay issues because it doesn't really matter in the long run?. ?I don't want people to know I'm gay, don't ask me?.

What sort of message are we sending to everyone out there in hetero land? That we as gay people don't want the same rights? That we don't feel we are entitled to the same basic Human Rights that are afforded every other race and religious ethnicity currently protected in this country? It seems the more we stay here and stay quiet the more ground we lose. It wasn't that long ago that we couldn't get married simply because the law didn't expressly say that we could. Then Uncle Johnny in his wisdom and with enough push from the Christian groups, decided that not only shouldn't we because it didn't say we could, but changed the law to say we can't because it's only for men and women as a couple.

Joseph Addison once said, ?No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.? So where do we draw the line about what government should allow and not allow us to do. So far they have stopped any loving gay couple to marry. Next will they be able to legally stop us from falling in love? With each stone cast the wall gets higher, and with each battle not fought the next grows harder until all our freedoms are taken away and we as a community are torn asunder and our rights are banished forever.

Politicians as a whole tend not to reflect the community with which they purport to serve but what they feel will get them the most votes at the next election. Surely our Pink votes are valuable to one of the major parties. Maybe as a minority we don't take our rights seriously enough until they are taken away from us entirely. Or maybe, and perhaps more likely, we assume someone else will do it for us.

Ultimately though, the onus is on no-one else but us. We as a community need to fight for what we believe in. It's up to us, to make our own stand against the bigotry and the Christian Left that hold everything we do up against a 2000 year old book that contradicts itself every other page. It's up to us, to urge our politicians to see us as we are, human beings. It's up to us to make the politicians, who make our laws, realise that we are no longer a minority that cannot be ignored. That we are a force united in our cause with Pink Dollars and Pink Votes that can be counted for our own rights to be noticed and upheld.

But as with all great causes it has to start somewhere. History is filled with stories of ?One? person who stood against their oppressors. Who will take up the banner and fight for us, if we are not willing to fight for ourselves?