Dusty Smith of the Ashburn Patch has a nice article up about reaction to the coming out of Wizards center Jason Collins. He interviewed the co-founders of Equality Loudoun for a local perspective.
Washington Wizards center Jason Collins has won much praise for his decision to publicly acknowledge that he’s gay, including from President Barack Obama and Equality Loudoun, a local LGBT advocacy group.
“I was very impressed with Jason Collins’ story in SI, really thoughtful and articulate,” said David Weintraub, a spokesman for Equality Loudoun. “I always think primarily about what these things mean for young people who feel they need to hide who they are, and who aren’t sure they can have a future as that person. This is an enormously significant message for those kids.” Weintraub said he particularly liked a line from the story, written by Collins with Franz Lidz, in which Collins wrote, “I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.”
“That’s exactly how it is, and that simply expressed truth will resonate powerfully,” Weintraub said. “It’s ultimately a waste of time to tell ourselves that the sky is red, and no one should have to waste that time.”
Obama addressed the topic at the end of press conference Tuesday.
“I told him I couldn’t be more proud of him. For a lot of young people who are gay or lesbian, who are struggling with these issues, who see a role model like that … I think it’s a great thing,” the president said. “One of the extraordinary measures of progress that we’ve seen in this country has been the recognition that the LGBT community deserves full equality, not just partial equality.”
Obama went further to say that the country has a whole had moved beyond “tolerance” has come to accept gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals as “fully a part of the American family.”
Read the rest here.
“Gay rights are human rights” has finally, finally become a mainstream concept in this country. The arc of history trends toward justice.