I'm sad to say I didn't know about this but yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans. This was the worst attack on LGBT people in the United States but has been largely forgotten by the public.
While we're waiting for a SCOTUS decision on DOMA, let's remember the sacrifices of the people who came before us and what they went through. The Stonewall Riots, the UpStairs Lounge, the ignorance about AIDS in the early '80s. I wish I could say the world has changed, that these are no longer concerns but I'd be lying. As long as suicide is the number one killer of LGBT youth, as long as protesters still carry signs saying AIDS Cures Fags and as long as LGBT are denied the respect they deserve as citizens of this country, the world has not changed. It may have improved in some ways but there is still a long ways to go.
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