Who Owns The Rainbow?

I was having a conversation the other day with someone whom, shall we say? I know professionally.  This individual grew up in a small town and I was not surprised during the course of our conversation to find her a little bit homophobic.  There was nothing terribly alarming here, no "God hates fags" bullshit and certainly nothing that would prompt me to suggest that she immigrate to Russia or Nigeria or Uganda.  I actually suggested to her that the Canadian Flag might be more colourful than the boring red and white maple leaf, and for some reason she said that we wouldn't want it to turn into a rainbow flag for fear of alienating those who do not embrace its inclusive message.

I did not tell her she is homophobic, though it seems clear that she is.  Neither did I suggest that growing up in a small town has somehow stunted her intellectual development and hobbled her world view, though of course it has.  Instead, I subjected her to a polite lengthy lecture about why the LGBTQ community has embraced and claimed the rainbow.  That this is a symbol of diversity and inclusion, that all colours belong to the same spectrum.

I went on to say that the queer community has had to fight and labour hard and long against prejudice, hate, ignorance and persecution and that now we have full marriage equality and that my wish is that we will no longer anywhere in this land have to hear the ridiculous exclamation "You mean he's GAY???!!!" because hopefully we will have evolved to a place where we will neither notice or care about sexual orientation.  It will all be completely normalized.

I said something else.  I would love to see gay pride eventually evolve into something that is completely inclusive of every kind of diversity under the sun.  I want to see the gay pride parade become a diversity pride parade.  I say this for a reason.  About six years ago I was at a friend's birthday party.  It was a Saturday afternoon in April and I met a pleasant diversity of people in his living room.  I found myself approached by an elderly French lesbian who waxed on about how thrilled she was that the gay community has strode this far in gaining popular acceptance, equality and legitimacy.  And I was celebrating with her.

Our conversation however took rather an unfortunate turn.  I mentioned that I work in mental health services and that my dream was to see that all who have suffered from mental illness will also come into the sense of acceptance and full social equality that iss finally occurring for gay and lesbian people.  The woman's face turned suddenly very ugly and then she spat out the words "At least we're not sick!"  How's that for a conversation stopper?  Struggling to contain my rage I politely said, "I believe this conversation is over" and walked away.

We still have a long way to go towards full equality.  I am referring to everyone.  It is not enough for one minority much as I appreciate and respect and admire its adherents to claim the rainbow as their rallying symbol.  We are all colours in this broad and beautiful spectrum of life: gays and lesbians, poor people, mental illness survivors, visible minorities, people with physical and developmental disabilities, artists and eccentrics and original thinkers, idealists and religious and spiritual devotees and every one of us who walks on and inhabits God's green earth, and my dream is to see all of us unite and rise together as sisters and brothers in the radiant splendour of this rainbow.  To expect anything less than this is to be less.