Taking a Stand for Tolerance

Kary Moss, Executive Director

This week two interesting things happened – one in Michigan, one in Geneva.

In the city of Troy, Mayor Janice Daniels was ‘outed’ as insensitive and worse when she called out New York for allowing “queers” to marry.

Yesterday in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a historic pronouncement that that the Department of State will pursue a global human rights agenda inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

What a contrast. In the one case, we have tea party mayor sorely out of touch with how her words echo and reverberate in a community and state, going well beyond what may be her own personal values.

In the other case, we have a national leader whose words recognize that human progress depends on our ability to respect all sexual orientations and gender identities.

While the culture war underway should not be ignored, for those millions of people throughout the world who face real threats ranging from employment discrimination, threats to personal safety and who suffer the costs of a legal system that subjects them to second class status because they cannot marry, I say take heart.

Slowly but surely tolerance will win. Polls of younger voters show this is a non-issue and just a matter of time before acceptance wins the day.

In the meantime, today you can do something about it. The Michigan Legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit public employers from providing domestic partnership benefits.

Let him know that our state will not be held hostage to small-mindedness but, rather, that we aspire to embrace global human rights values that recognize the dignity in every human being.

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