CROSSING THE CAROLINE:Marriage: Not the End (Except in Sitcoms)

CAROLINE REN
Editor in Chief

With same-sex marriage legal　in 36 states and the District of Columbia, with a 37th pending, the Supreme Court will discuss whether or not it should be legal nationwide on April 28, according to the New York Times and USA Today. While it is laudable to see such progress occurring, it does not end the hostile attitude prevalent in the collective social consciousness.

Much like how the civil rights movement did not end racism, one spotlighted step forward cannot be upheld as a reason to stop advocating for equality. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs,
over 2,000 incidents of violence against LGBT people, including 25 homicides, were reported in 2012. These numbers
do not even account for unreported incidents and suicides that result from years of antagonization and bullying.

To promote safety for LGBT individuals, we must dismantle structural oppression, but we must also further take it upon ourselves to educate our peers and later on, future generations. The root problem of any institutional discrimination is societal mindset, and that is what we must seek to change. To stand by while others toss around harmful slurs is to allow the LGBT community to be treated as a joke. It’s time we stopped any of our own damaging habits, even if they are not meant to be taken seriously, because the implications magnify and eventually become the destructive force that hurts, hinders and even kills people for simply being who they are.