June 26 will mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling legitimizing the legal status of same-sex marriage nationwide.
UNM Sociology Chair Richard Wood said witnessing the success of the decades long LGBTQ movement in America – culminating in last year’s monumental Supreme Court ruling – has been “phenomenal.”
“It’s not like it happened quickly,” he said, alluding to the Stonewall riots of 1969, “(But) now, it’s sort of a consensus position for both political parties that lesbian and gay folks have rights in American society.”
Given the largely incremental rate of progress in the past, Wood said, “For a guy who studies social movements,” he is amazed by the rate at which the LGBTQ movement achieved its “endgame” in the Supreme Court last year, and by how far along the issue has been carried out in the American political arena.
“Five years ago, it still looked like it was going to be a 20 year battle.” he said, in regard to the right of same-sex couples to marry. “Big changes come slowly.”
The change of pace can most likely be attributed to two key factors, Wood said: effective organization incorporating savvy, media-rich political activism, and the movement’s ability to “build on American individualism.”
Lt. Col. Liz Valenzuela, USAF, said those individual rights go even further than marriage.
In a free and open society, any citizen willing to serve their country, no matter their sexual orientation, should have the right to do so, openly and proudly, she said.
“Everybody has a chance to fight and die for their country, and it shouldn’t matter – your politics, (or) your bedpartners. That’s a right that we all should be able to have,” she said.
In the American mainstream, there is an apparent failure to understand that members of the LGBTQ community are willing to fight for more than their own civil interests; they are willing to fight for all of us, Valenzuela said.
“It’s very hard for folks that are in the LGBT community to say ‘we want what is ours,’ when we should also be willing to fight alongside everybody, and we are,” she said.
After nearly two decades of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, American military culture has embraced a learning curve toward acceptance.
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There are members of the LGBTQ community who serve in the armed forces, she said.
“Just because people don’t wear nametags, or a rainbow sticker on their uniform, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist,” Valenzuela said. “We should be able to accept each other for who we are.”
Valenzuela said, prior to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2011, there was nonstop pressure for her to remain closeted, and secretive about her home life.
Aside from legal benefits, she and her wife of 15 years, Bunny, were deprived of the emotional benefits that come with a vast array of social activities, like barbecues or weddings.
Valenzuela, who is a Texas native, said she obtained her marriage license in New York.
“Good things, bad things; you couldn’t really share because you could out yourself and lose your job in the military,” she said.
This suppression sometimes resulted in social avoidance and unnecessary tension between her and fellow airmen, Valenzuela said. “It put a wedge between us that didn’t need to be there.”
In the past, Valenzuela said she would never have imagined the type of social engagement she and her wife now enjoy, frequently hanging out with both gay and straight couples.
In time, changing policies brought changing perceptions, she said, and certain fears have subsided.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. I have a spouse, you have a spouse. I put on my pants one leg at a time, (so do you). We both serve our country, we both pay our taxes. It’s all good,” she said.
Now that gay marriage is the law of the land, Valenzuela said she and her wife plan on getting married again, this time in her home state, with her friends and family in attendance.
The Department of Defense has yet to enact policy that would allow transgender people to openly serve.
“Everybody fits in society, in their own way, and we should all be given that chance,” Valenzuela said.
Johnny Vizcaino is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. Contact him at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thedailyjohnnyv.
