How I See It

Many Americans agree that groups of people who have suffered oppression and discrimination in our society deserve some kind of reparation.

An article in Monday's Forty-Niner by Crystal Whiters, from the University of Illinois, carefully outlined the history of reparations as it pertains to African, Native, Japanese and Jewish Americans.

But what about sexual minorities?

I am sick of being left out of a discourse that absolutely pertains to my community. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are a minority. We can and should be discussed in the same terms as ethnic minorities.

Sexual minorities have suffered similar emotional, economic and social damage and continue to be treated with disregard by this country's government. Is it possible that America will someday make reparations for the persecution and discrimination gay and lesbian people have suffered since the birth of this nation?

Sexual minorities do not yet enjoy the same kind of recognition as ethnic minorities. There are no boxes on forms that can be checked, and there are few programs that designate our minority status.

Perhaps it is the fundamental differences between ethnic and other minorities that keep them separate. Ethnic minorities in America experience discrimination based on race. Unlike sexual minorities, they experience very little discrimination based solely on religion, and the level at which others fear them has rarely influenced their everyday actions.

American sexual minorities live under a government that consistently uses religion to demonize their existence. And the fear exhibited by their fellow citizens dictates the limits they must place on their behavior in order to protect themselves from harm.

Gay couples, including gay ethnic couples, do not enjoy any of the same rights as straight couples. They cannot even hold hands in public for fear of ridicule, injury or even death.

Recent studies have shown that as many as 46 percent of gay and lesbian workers have experienced significant discrimination in the workplace. And in 39 states, gay people can be legally fired from their jobs simply for being gay.

America holds up the separation of church and state as an ideal, but fails to practice it. Several other nations, including Denmark, Sweden, Holland and Canada, have no fundamentalist religious lobby and have had no problems associated with identifying their sexual minorities and affording them equal rights under the law.

Sexual minorities do not have a defining event like the Holocaust, slavery, internment camps or genocide to justify the need for reparation, but they have faced profound discrimination. They have suffered from the historically discriminatory practices of a predominantly close-minded Christian establishment.

Our government is starting to come around. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) seeks to give federal employees protection on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill has received bipartisan support in congress, but has failed to pass.

All I can hope for in the near future is a society that is willing and able to include all types of minorities in its discussion on things like discrimination, benefits and reparations. We need to broaden our definition of minorities to include all groups of people who are intrinsically, not just ethnically, different.