While oppressive ideals, and those that propagate them, often try to spread the idea that it is hopeless to resist, there is a reason to act out. Hope, Solnit asserts, is a gift that one does not need to surrender, and a power that an individual does not need to throw away (Solnit 4). Hope is an act of defiance, and while resistance alone is not sufficient reason to hope (Solnit 3), there are good reasons for the sustenance of hope. This paper will seek to review the current LGBTQ social justice movement, aimed towards elimination of systemic discrimination, and test if Solnit’s assertion that the grounds for hope lie in the records and recollections of the past is credible.
The Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) movement is a social movement that advocates for the LGBTQ people in society. These movements seek to dispel discrimination based on a heteronormative world-view and may include a focus on equal rights, self-help, self-acceptance, or outright liberation. Solnit posits that contemporary time is one of transformation and nightmares, and thus a full engagement would require the perception of both (Solnit 5). This statement holds for the LGBTQ movements, which, throughout their lifetimes, have had profound wins, but also faced significant drawbacks. For this study, the scope of the review will be limited to rights and freedoms as provided by legally-binding statutes, including Supreme Court rulings, executive orders, constitutional amendments, and Legislative Acts.
Initially, following a provision in the American Psychiatric Association, homosexuality had been listed as a mental condition under sociopathic personality disturbance. However, with the contemporary levels of acceptance and inclusivity, this has been disproven and was reflected in the diagnostic manual of the same organization later. Further, homosexual individuals had been barred from working within the federal government, as a security risk (Solnit 7). These levels of systemic and occupational discrimination do still exist in modern times, and Solnit addresses this reality by stating that having hope does not mean denying uncomfortable truths, but rather confronting them by remembering that which has been achieved instead.
The LGBTQ social movement has made significant achievements. These are conceptualized in different forms, including the all-out protests and riots following the police raid on Stonewall Inn. These raids towards a gay bar birthed the cultural phenomenon that is now the pride march. Further, the development of non-profit legal institutions for the representation of homosexual individuals in court through Lambda Legal set the precedence for LGBTQ legal representation in the Judicial System. The development of the rainbow flag also symbolizes unity and inclusivity and has become a powerful symbol for the social movement as well. More recently, same-sex marriages, as well as a landmark Supreme Court ruling, stating that occupational discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal, marked a significant development in the fight for equality and representation.
These changes reflect Solnit’s position that recent times have had remarkable movement-building, social change, and profound shifts in perspectives and frameworks for large swathes of the population. However, hope is defined, not by the belief that everything is fine, either in the past, present, or future. Still, that specific possibility in the future can invite or demand people to act (Solnit 7). The review of the drawbacks and the achievements of the LGBTQ movement are necessary because grief and hope can coexist. Looking at the significant progress made by the movement, and the shifts in perspective and frameworks in contemporary society, there is an acknowledgment that there is the future possibility that discrimination against an LGBTQ person will elicit people or institutions to act; which is precisely Solnit’s description of hope.
Work Cited
Solnit, Rebecca. “Hope is an embrace of the unknown: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times.” The Guardian: Culture, 2016, Web.