One of the things that pulls cis het readers into M/M romance is the deep unfairness that the stories expose, as readers experience how the world treats same-sex love and relationships. Knowing this discrimination exists is different from experiencing it, as a skilled author helps the reader walk in a gay character’s shoes. When I read The Persian Boy and The Front Runner back in 1974, that unfairness was the thing that caught my heart, and started me on a writing journey.
The unfairness is present not just as we fought for equal marriage, but in every part of life. We walk with beloved characters as they grapple with prejudice from family, from employers, from government bodies, and people on the street. I’ve watched other M/M readers become allies, and advocates for equality. Fiction can be a powerful emotional call to action, especially for people who may not be close to anyone out as LGBTQ in real life.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States took a huge step in speaking up for equality under the law. By 6-3 they ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, also protects employees from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Today’s decisions confirm workplace anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across the country.
Laws do not eliminate prejudice or unfairness. We have only to look at the people of color— still urgently protesting many decades after the law demanded their equal treatment— to know that.
But laws give people recourse against discrimination. Laws establish an expectation of equality.
It can be hard to be optimistic, in today’s climate. Sometimes, reading historical M/M helps, because as far as we have yet to go, reading and experiencing the lives of people who lived when every nation had laws punishing and jailing their gay citizens is a reminder that progress has happened. I sometimes read M/M historicals for precisely that realization.
Today, I don’t have to delve into fiction for a dose of reassurance. The SCOTUS has affirmed that with regard to an old law “the limits of the drafters’ imagination supply no reason to ignore the law’s demands.” The highest court was willing— in fact, insisted on— applying our modern understanding of the breadth and spectrum of normal human experience to the demands for equality. And because the test cases included gay men and a transgender woman, the ruling explicitly applies to gender identity as well as sexuality.
Today, during Pride month, we get to celebrate in real life.
– Kaje Harper
June 2020
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. They are, as always, inspiring.
<3 Such a moment of good news when we need it. I really think the details of this ruling carry excellent implications for outlawing discrimination in other venues.
What a way to celebrate PRIDE!
Way to go Supreme Court!
Now if we could get everyone to bake cakes for all weddings…serve everyone in restaurants…and the list goes on.
Yes, very clearly getting the legal rights is a starting point, not an end point. And as BLM shows, the road is very long. But it’s damned satisfying to get that starting point and have an actual legal recourse.
I think of people like Jacob and Daniel from your “Into Deep Waters, ” who faced brutal bigotry. LGBTQ people of their time paved the way for those like my husband and me, who met in 1981in a deep red state. We still had to keep the most important parts of our lives secret from our employers, but we had family acceptance.
LGBTQ people still have farther to go, but this is wonderful.
Daniel, Jacob, and our other LGBTQ ancestors are smiling. This is a day to rejoice!
<3 Yes, a great day for everyone who has been walking that path for so long – a legal way forward in the fight for equality. (And I'm so glad folk like you see my Jacob and Daniel as good representation. Congrats on almost 40 years together.)