As we pause to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we see two unresolved policy areas that need to be addressed and provide an opportunity for our community to seek positive solutions to the problems that divide our country: discrimination and immigration. We must pledge to seek these changes and get beyond the fear that grips some people uncontrollably and is further exploited by conservatives at every turn. We need to recognize common causes to unite with other minority communities if we want to achieve greater fairness and equality overall.
Discrimination
One thing became clear even as smoke from the demolished twin towers smoldered at ground zero: Americans would need to struggle against the impulse to discriminate against and scapegoat all Muslims. The Muslim community felt it almost instantly in some parts of the country, where they were singled out because of their faith and unilaterally declared as the enemy. Even people mistaken for being Muslim faced angry stares, second-class treatment, and murder. This should sound familiar to LGBTs. As a community familiar with discrimination for generations, some LGBTs found a shared bond with our Muslim neighbors and co-workers and took the opportunity for shared understanding and a desire to see our communities free from discrimination.
During the debate last year over the planned construction of an Islamic center near the site of the 2001 attacks in Lower Manhattan, LGBT community leaders should have stood up to support the constitutional rights of the developers. A closer examination of that dispute shows that it was largely led by the overheated and false rhetoric on Fox News and conservative blogs who riled up people against Muslim Americans and tried to deny them their rights as citizens.
We need to move beyond the sound bites and stand up for fairness. Going forward, we must speak up when others cannot. We must call out discrimination for what it is, and work to ensure that people are protected legally in housing, employment, and public accommodations. We must build coalitions with the Muslim community and other allies; in this way, we can forge common ground together by lobbying political leaders or simply speaking up against blatant discrimination. It is not acceptable to stand by silently if we want others to speak up on our behalf.
Immigration
Immigration provides another policy opportunity. The system needs reform, and neither former President George W. Bush nor current President Obama has been able to bring about even the most basic workable solution. Immigration is an LGBT issue because immigrants and same-sex binational couples have had their lives upended, just as people in other communities have. The failure of federal Dream Act legislation in the Senate last December – even as repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" moved forward – was a stark reality check that demonstrated the undue influence of conservatives to focus attention and action against immigrants by tying this country's immigration policies to fear – the fear of another terrorist attack or the fear of losing one's job, even as it's clear that many Americans wouldn't do the work that immigrants perform.
Ideally we need an immigration policy that allows families to stay together, enables children of undocumented workers to get a college education, and strengthens our economy by putting people on a path to citizenship so that they can work legally in the United States and pay their fair share in taxes. Independent voters need to look beyond the hollow slogans generated by tea party politicians and the majority of the Republican presidential candidates.
In short, the divisiveness needs to come to an end. Given the toxic climate of Washington, D.C. these days, and a presidential election next year, we know that's a tall order; but we must continue the conversations, telling our stories to leaders while listening as people in other minority communities tell theirs and supporting each other in common causes.
This 10th anniversary of 9/11 needn't be a sorrowful time. Rather, it should be a time of renewal in ourselves, and in our country. Fair-minded leaders need to move America in a new direction, but they can only do so if we demand it. Make your voice heard and your actions count.