This one issue seems to have taken over the equality debate to become the be all or end all of the LGBT+ struggle. No-one seems to have decided where do we go once marriage equality has been won for everyone. While it is an important issue, it isn't the biggest problem facing LGBT+ people today. We finally have a global debate for the rights of people who have been denied them for too many years to count. We need to keep up the pressure yet already trans* people have been asked to stand aside so we can get to marriage equality first, then they'll 'come back' for us. There is no excuse for excluding trans* people or any other group, equality is an issue for everyone. Excluding the most vulnerable people to make it more appealing to the hetero-normative masses takes any of the meaning .out of what you are trying to achieve. It becomes a hollow victory at best. I most certainly will not step aside so someone else can get their rights and abandon me to my fate. Equality is for everyone.
Where do we go then? Once we win marriage equality and get that right we should have, what comes next? There are still many inequalities for women, the pay gap, reproductive rights being threatened, sexism and misogyny everywhere. LGB in equality is getting better, but there are still many rights not afforded to homosexual or bisexual people, and in some parts of the world being gay is punishable with death. Trans* people still face massive discrimination in many countries around the world. Even in the UK, a country with arguably some of the best trans* rights in the world, there is huge discrimination. Many trans* people are unemployed and struggle to get employed. There is huge discrimination in the use of services, and public toilets still remain a minefield. Trans* people are a target for the ridicule of the media, who still show us as freaks and perverts.
The privilege in our society is prevalent, we are a culture dominated by cis-gender, heteronormative, able-bodied, white men. They outstanding privilege that anyone with one of these labels, let alone most of them, has is often unseen. The mundane nature of every day life can make people blind to this privilege, and forget that someone like me, someone who goes against these societal norms, has to struggle just to lead a normal life. Coming out, both as a trans* woman and as a lesbian has changed my standing in this culture forever. I will never be looked on as 'normal' again. The simplest of things become a challenge. I've had essential rights stripped away. I have to consider every action I take, every place I visit, every pub I drink in to see if it'll be safe. To see if I can have an enjoyable evening without stares, comments or worse abuse. I am still aware I have privilege. I was lucky enough to be born into a country with free healthcare. I am caucasian, and raised in a good home. I attend a very good university, and have great friends. There are a lot of LGBT+ people who have none of those things. This is why we need to work out what comes next.
There is a lot of fighting, a lot of activism and a lot of struggling still to be done.
Not all of this is legal battles either. Education is needed to show the population we are just ordinary people who want the same rights, the same respect as heterosexual cis-gendered people receive. I don't want special treatment or extra rights, just the same ones. There needs to be an attempt to show the world LGBT+ people are neighbours, families, friends, co-workers. We're just normal people with the same worries, we experience the same joys, we fall in love and want to raise families or follow successful careers. We want to live our lives in safety, without discrimination.
Educating the world to this is the real battle to be fought, for when we are seen as people and not a scary unknown, the rest will follow.
