| One of the questions I often hear when conducting diversity workshops for high school health classes is �Can�t gay people get married�? Granted, the question comes mostly from freshmen and sophomores who probably don�t keep up with current events. It used to surprise me that they had so little knowledge of the rights we currently hold in America. But I think that this somewhat na�ve question points to an important truth. Regardless of what they might think of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in general, my peers clearly see marriage and all that comes with it as a simple and basic right that everyone should have. They can�t fathom why same-gender couples shouldn�t have that recognition and those rights. Even teens who might tell gay jokes in the locker room don�t see why the government would deny �those people� of their rights. I�m seventeen years old and I�ve been fighting for so long that I forget we are supposed to be endowed with �certain inalienable rights.� My life as a young lesbian means fighting to hang posters in honor of Gay and Lesbian History Month at my high school, it means sometimes neglecting homework to attend organizing meetings for basic civil rights, and it means carrying with me every day the stories of my non-straight peers, who have been deeply harmed by society�s refusal to recognize and affirm their right to exist. I want you to see in me a group of young people who are living a paradox. Adults in our community say we are the blessed generation, that we will stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and rise to true equality. But while we might recognize ourselves in a few sitcom characters or come out to our families at a young age, when we ask for fair laws and equal rights, we are told to wait. This struggle has gone on long enough. We need to be accepted and affirmed by the state and country that we love and live in now. For the future, the present, and all those who came before me, I ask you to consider what kind of society says that some relationships deserve recognition, financial benefits, and protection from the state while same-gender relationships do not. Please act to ensure a fair and equal future for myself and my peers. |
| My testimony from the March 16, 2001 CT public hearing on gay marriage. |