Many view Richmond, Virginia - capital of the Confederacy and certainly a bastion of the Old South for many decades - as stogy and backwards. Yet the city continues to offer up surprises for not only its LGBT residents but for LGBT Virginians as a whole. As noted some time back on this blog, the Richmond has added an LGBT page to its Visitors & Convention bureau web page. More recently in April, the city's mayor signed a non-discrimination resolution protecting LGBT city employees. And now the Gay Community Center of Richmond has brought back a billboard - pictured above - that overlooks Interstate 95 in downtown Richmond. The billboard addresses an important topic: the power that coming out has to change hearts and minds. Time and time again data shows that knowing someone who is LGBT is a significant factor in whether or not someone supports LGBT equality. Certainly in southeastern Virginia far too many LGBT citizens continue to lurk largely in the closet out of fear of the reactions of family, friends and/or employers. Here are highlights on why the billboard campaign was brought back:
Nearly twenty-five years ago activists published a provocative message on billboards around Richmond: Someone You Know is Gay… Maybe Someone You Love. Beginning August 26, the Gay Community Center of Richmond will recreate this campaign by republishing this important message on a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in central Richmond.
Each day tens of thousands of travelers traveling south on Interstate 95 and east on Interstate 64 will see this message of inclusion as they pass the Gay Community Center of Richmond. Perhaps some will learn. Perhaps some will come out. Just as in 1987, Richmond will be reminded that LGBT people are woven into the fabric of the city.
It was in this climate of despair [of the AIDS crisis], when most of our organizations were focused more inward and on basic survival, that the Billboard Project was conceived. Many of us continued to believe that if more people knew us personally – really knew who we were – they would find it harder to hate us and discriminate against us. With the message “Someone You Know Is Gay… Maybe Someone You Love.” these billboards brought this message to Richmonders in a very public way, leading to both introspection and discussion. The billboards were also an amazing sight for LGBT folks who were not used to seeing a positive, public message about us.
The Billboard Project set the tone for tremendous growth in LGBT activism and community development. The groups that serve our community today – ROSMY, Equality Virginia, GCCR and many others – were founded because people knew we needed to organize and were willing to step forward to publicly lead.
As we celebrate this message again today, we have an opportunity to expand on it. Today we realize that “Gay” is not always understood to include Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people. Today’s campaign recreates history, but we must move past our history and speak of ourselves in a way that includes all the diversity of our community, a multi-cultural and vibrant people. At the same time, the importance of being Out is just as great and we need to constantly reinforced this message for new generations. To our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, we say we are yours. And we say we deserve fairness, justice and respect.
Coming out can be terrifying as I well know from my own experiences. But it does make a difference both in one's own self-acceptance and the acceptance of LGBT individuals by others. Waiting for others to carry the fight for equality while remaining hidden only means that we will be second class citizens for even more years. I urge readers currently in the closet to come out and join the fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment