President Barack Obama address the Human Rights Campaign on the eve of the National Equality March.
At certain times in history great people step forward to do the right thing even when it is unpopular or difficult. Despite personal misgivings about it being the “right time” to tackle Civil Rights for African-Americans John F. Kennedy finally stepped up to bat. Lyndon B. Johnson, a Southerner brooked the hatred of his own home state, hatred that led to the assassination of his predecessor, to push through the landmark “Civil Rights Act.” Today, LGBT Americans wait while Barack Obama, a direct beneficiary of Kennedy’s & Johnson’s risks hems and haws and says “it’s not the right time.”
Is it ever the right time? There will always be those who would prefer that only their race, religion, sex, or economic class be allowed the full measure of civil rights. We still have people today who would prefer that African Americans were denied basic civil rights.
Even the Great Emancipator didn’t think it was the “right time” for the very same slaves he freed to have full civil rights in our nation. It would be another 5 years after his death before our Constitution was amended to allow former slaves to vote in elections. It would be almost 100 more years before Johnson still fighting against those whispering “it’s not the right time” signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
Today, we see forces in our nation who do their very best at every election to make sure that these same great-grandchildren of those freemen are kept from the polls. From voter intimidation to outright fraud at the polls, those who would see a person stripped of their right to vote because of race and/or economic status are out in force. Obviously, it is still “not the right time.”
If “the right time” is defined as the moment when there no longer exists anyone who will oppose those selfsame Civil Rights then that time will never come. Instead, “the right time” is the moment when those rights are most under attack by the forces of ignorance, intolerance, hatred, and cruelty.
“The right time” is now, not tomorrow, not next week. “The right time” cannot wait until it is politically expedient and safe for each day delayed is a lifetime lost.
At moments in history when a portion of our population was under attack there have always been men of vision to step into the fray and say “Now is the time!” Where are those men today when LGBT Americans are told “You cannot love without the consent of the majority. You cannot take care of yourself or your family. You are not as valuable. Your service is not needed. Your hopes and dreams are worth less than mine!” Where are those men who will step into this fray and tell those who oppose our right to live our lives with the same protections as all other Americans that they are wrong and their time is over?
We keep looking to President Obama and he only extends a handshake and glances away. Still, we hope that he will be the one. We hope that he will be the next great President who will inch our nation forward on the road to freedom for all. Mr. President, now is the time and it is your time if you are willing to seize this moment and be strong.
