Oklahoma bills seek to limit LGBT individuals’ freedom

To the Editor, The Gayly

By Steve Davis
President-PFLAG Norman

In October of last year marriage became legal for same gender couples in Oklahoma. Since then thousands of couples have exercised their newly recognized right to marry, celebrating with their families and friends as Americans traditionally do.

Now the Oklahoma legislature has kicked off its 2015 session with numerous bills that would treat people differently based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Some bills are more repressive than others but each one seeks to limit the freedom of LGBT individuals to enjoy the same rights as the heterosexual majority.

Same gender marriage has been legal in Massachusetts for over 10 years. Our nation has had a decade to notice that the sky didn't fall. In fact, polls show a stunning increase in support of marriage equality as we have come to learn people we interact with every day are gay and decided, "so what?" The fears were unrealized.

Change can be unsettling but a rush to write prejudice and discrimination into our laws out of fear is destructive and divisive. Diversity isn't a threat, in fact it's enriching for any environment: a workplace, a congregation, a family, a society, and each is the better for it. Ours is a society that recognizes our personal beliefs should not determine the rights of our neighbor.

Sexual orientation or gender identity isn't something an individual chooses or practices. It's who they are and each is some family's loved one, deserving of equal access to services and equal treatment under the law. No one deserves to have their relationship devalued in a misguided attempt to exalt another's or to be treated as 'less than' in any way by employers, businesses, or government agencies.

PFLAG Norman is an organization formed to support and advocate for LGBT individuals and their families. We have the diversity of experiences, beliefs, identities, and opinions that any group would have plus an intense concern for equality. We are asking our fellow Oklahomans to resist fear, stand for mutual respect, and insist that legislation designed to diminish the rights and hurt the spirit of a vulnerable minority be rejected.

Please contact your state legislators to share your concern about bills that would treat LGBT citizens differently.Each one of us has a voice, the price of silence is too high.

The Gayly - March 5, 2015 @ 4pm.