Second-Class Citizenship Continues, but Today, I Celebrate

Today our country took a major step toward equality for all. I was ecstatic, elated and everything else that's comes with excitement. I never thought this day would come. Above all, I was proud, proud to have been an active participant. And, while my name may never show up on history books I am aware that I did not sit back and take discrimination. I voted, marched, protested, blogged, reported and supervised other people's reporting on the issue.

The issue? Well, some people did ask me why I cared. After all marriage equality in California was achieved two years ago and these days it doesn't affect me directly. Wrong! I didn't participate in the fight for gay rights. I didn't do it because I was gay, bi or straight, as I know many people who didn't either. I am an active participant in the equality movement because it's not about gay rights, bi rights or straight rights. To me, marriage equality is not about love. Romance is one thing, human rights are another. The fight for equality is a human right's fight. It's the same response singer Hozier gave in an interview about his song, "Take Me to Church." If a group of people contribute to the well-being of a free society they should have equal rights. It's that simple.

That said, I've also chosen to celebrate today. And let tomorrow be tomorrow. The fight continues but today I celebrate. So, when I read on Facebook and Twitter that LGB people still have a list of things they need to fight, that transgender people are still not being treated fairly, and that people of color are still not equal and not only being discriminated but killed, I acknowledge it. Though I disagree that the fight for marriage equality was one for and by white gays, as I've read in online chatter.  Sorry, but today is not the day. Today I celebrate because we are one step closer to equality, one step closer to not being a second-class citizen. Is that going to change overnight? Well, slavery, voting rights and segregation may be a thing of the past in most of the country, but discrimination is not over generations later.

As a Latino with intersecting identities I understand that fighting for human rights has not ended -- that social change must follow. But, today, today, I chose to celebrate. Tomorrow, there will be another ignorant person (and ignorance, we must remember, is not an insult just a lack of knowledge) who will ask me: "What's your nationality?" -- A question that most non-people of color rarely get. Or as, a recent acquaintance from the East Coast not in a post, there will be another person who will assume, I'm the valet, the car wash attendant or the cleaning crew, because of the color of my skin.

But today, please let's cherish today. Today, I celebrate a milestone in human rights, even as I continue to socially be considered a second-class, hyphenated citizen.