original illustration by TNG's own Cathryn.

This weekend’s National Equality March in Washington, DC has gay equality at the forefront of many people’s minds. So this week’s question to the staff is as follows:

What does the concept of equality mean to you? How will you know when we’ve achieved it?

Feel free to leave your own answers in the comments box. See you at the march!

1. Michael, Co-founder and primary contributor:

Equality means equal protection under the law. It means that no government institution or program should care what my gender is. I feel that all queer people, gay m/w, bi, trans, will reach true equality when the law sees no gender. The law must also protect all of us who do not confirm to traditional gender roles. My concept applies to government only, since that is what we can change. The religious institutions and other cultural groups will just have to catch up on their own or lose relevance in the face of a greater understanding of humanity.

2. Matt, Staff Contributor:

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said of obscene pornography, that while he couldn’t define it, he’d “know it when [he saw] it.” It seems to me that Equality is precisely the opposite. It’s very easy to define, and while we rarely see true equality, many haved claimed over the years that it has arrived.

To me, equality means being equal in my humanity in the eyes of others and in the eyes of the law.

As long as the papers refer to civil marriage as “gay”, we will know that equality has not yet arrived. So long as youngsters fear the openness of the outside of the closet, we will know that equality has not yet arrived. So long as politicians think my life is an issue open for political debate, we will know that equality has not yet arrived. And so long as social pressures force us to think of our sexual orientation as a bigger deal than our handedness or the color of our eyes or the length of our hair, we will know that equality has not yet arrived.

But one day, we will know. One day, long after we have buried the ghosts of racism and sexism and homophobia, one day after all the other ghosts of arguments against someone of a different part of the rainbow from us have vanished for good, we will look around and we will know. But I fear that day is long in coming.

3. Chris, Theatre Editor:

As others have mentioned, my very general view of it is that we’ll have “equal rights” when we no longer have to worry about the term “equal rights.” Rights should be rights. Not more or less. Imagine someone using the phrase “totally complete.” You shouldn’t need the “totally” if something is really “complete.”

4. Levi, Staff Contributor:

I may just be a totally jaded, but I’m begining to believe that equality (in any form, not just in terms of GLBTQ rights) is merely just a concept and can never be fully achieved. So to me, equality is just a pipe dream.

5. Ben K., Staff Contributor:

Equality is the recognition of the civil rights of an individual within a society. It is the equal right to drink out of the same water fountain, the equal right to have a voice at the ballot box, and it is the equal right to marry. Equality is to be extended the same
rights and benefits within the law as any other person regardless of who they are.

When I think of equality I think of it in these broader legal terms, I do not necessarily equate it with acceptance. I think the acceptance of GLBT people in society is enabled by further gains in equal protections under the law. Acceptance within society is gained
through exposure and activism.

In the pursuit of equality and acceptance it is important to never forget the virtue of diversity. The celebration of distinct qualities are an important part of any society or culture. As we celebrate who we are in the pursuit of equality, never forget that there is someone out there who has been taught to be ashamed of his or her uniqueness

6. Josh, Houston Editor:

For me, equality goes beyond equal rights, benefits, and protections under law – although those are an essential component. True equality occurs when we no longer feel compelled to modify our conduct to conceal or explain a difference. I think we get closer and closer to equality every day and I look to the little things as evidence. Last year while visiting my family in Chicago I overheard my aunt talking to my three young cousins and mentioning my boyfriend in casual conversation. It was something like, “Remember when Josh was here last year with his boyfriend?” Neither my aunt nor my cousins were fazed by this. It was just a normal part of their conversation as if they had been talking about my straight cousin and his girlfriend. I know that is such a small element, but it’s the smaller quirks about society that help define our progress. We’ll know we’ve “made it” when we no longer speak in pronouns, when no longer have “gay friends” and “straight friends”, but just friends, and when the concept of being in the closet is obsolete.

7. Cathryn, Staff Illustrator:

For me, equality is a situation of missing the forest because of the trees.
Yes individual causes are incredibly important, but disenfranchising particular portions of our population out of fear or misunderstanding is just as ingrained in our societal structure as dominance hierarchy, which I think is more responsible than anything else for inequality.

Societies have been established and operated for centuries on the premise that one group, person, or establishment has to be higher, bigger or better, and another has to be lower, smaller, or less. We’re socialized all our lives to think that buying this one item (a fancy car, a nice refrigerator, this particular pair of shoes) will put us one notch above and beyond the rest. The idea that someone has to be ahead and someone else has to be behind in order for our society to function. Think about poverty, civil rights issues, healthcare quality and access, even our systems of education all thrive on this concept.

It will be an incredible victory for us when the LGBT population is no longer treated as an ‘other.’ It is just a tree in the forest though; true equality – beyond just equal rights – would require a shift in our thinking and implementation of societal standards. I fight for my rights as a gay person just as hard as everyone else, but I can’t forget that LGBT equality is just a small part of the bigger picture.