I’ve been an LGBT activist since the mid-1980s. I was an early member of the California State University, Fresno student organization known at the time as the Gay and Lesbian Student Alliance (GLSA). I’ve been in this fight for a long time. I love the energy and enthusiasm of the movement as it is today. I’m astonished by the progress we have made in the last few years alone. We have every reason to be proud and optimistic. But something has been lost along the way. The movement has become more conservative and more exclusive in recent years.
The Cynthia Nixon brouhaha serves as a case in point. The actress known for her role in Sex in the City publicly stated that she chose to be a lesbian, creating a firestorm of criticism from the community at large. She later recanted and stated instead that she was bisexual and was born that way. But there are many who feel they chose the lives they lead, and by shouting them down, we are exluding them, marginalizing them.
Each time someone is publicly attacked for his or her beliefs in this way makes the LGBT tent a little bit smaller and a little bit more conservative. And this is just one example among many. We are a large and varied community. Each of us has at least a slightly different experience, and each of us has something valuable to contribute. Fracturing the movement by attacking individuals whose experience differs from our own does nothing to further our cause.
