Lessons from LGBTQ marriage equality

By Katy Neusteter, Director of Communications

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in the United States. Those first moments after I heard the news felt golden, giddy, like everything was coming together. It was an oasis; a mini-vacation from worrying about the state of Things.

It’s been amazing to witness the movement for marriage equality build, change public opinion so rapidly, and move a nation’s justice system. Of course, this is just one step toward full equality—professional, immigration, and otherwise. The struggle for equal rights for LGBTQ people will continue, as rights activist Francesca Rebecca Acocella explains so eloquently in her blog post, “Marriage at Supreme Court.”

I hope this decision will be a catalyst for the U.S. and the rest of the world to honor the full rights of LGBTQ people everywhere.

Every so often, Global Greengrants learns of an environmental victory on par with the win for marriage equality in the United States. Last year, after vocal community opposition, Chile scrapped the HidroAysén mega dam project, which would have devastated pristine lands and traditional livelihoods in Patagonia. Two years before that, China banned paraquat—an incredibly toxic herbicide that causes cancer.

More often, we learn about environmental wins on a local scale. A community in India, where a newly finished water system is providing clean drinking water to local kids. An activist who has galvanized local people in Indonesia to remove more than 1,000 acres of oil palm plantations and restore elephant and orangutan habitat.

No matter their scope or reach, all are victories. All are twinkles of hope.

Although our advisors consider gender when they recommend small grants to grassroots groups—and they have the leeway to make grants that address gay, lesbian, and transgender rights—LGBTQ rights are not one of the 12 pressing challenges Global Greengrants targets. But the environmental justice and LGBTQ movements share the same strong foundation: We strive to create a world in which all people can live free, healthy, and productive lives.

But less than a week after the Supreme Court recognized marriage equality, the same institution struck down a critical environmental regulation that would curtail toxic pollution from U.S. coal power plants. And, of course, President Obama signed what Grist called the “planet-unfriendly” Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement into law today.

And it made me think:

What could the environmental movement in the United States achieve with a marriage-equality-size shift in public opinion?

Could we end the murder of activists defending their lands from mining? Could we protect animals from slaughter and indigenous people from the ravages of dirty energy? Could we stop climate change?

In five months, Global Greengrants will send a delegation of grantees, advisors, and staff and board members to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris. Together, we will advocate for front-line communities, which bear the burden of climate chaos, even while doing little to perpetuate it. We will share stories of youth, women, and indigenous leaders who are defending their land and raising their voices for change. And we will help local people have a loudspeaker so that their voices are heard in the streets of Paris and inside the negotiation halls.

From grassroots communities to the Pope, calls for justice and divestment from dirty energy are growing louder.

Each of us—no matter where or how we live—can be a part of the transformation toward a just economy that honors our environment, health, and rights. We don’t have to wait for those in traditional positions of power to step up. This is up to us now.

As the LGBTQ movement has so brilliantly demonstrated, our voices are powerful when we raise them together.