I have been out to myself for almost 40 years. The years leading up to that lucid moment were colored with ignorance, doubt and fear…of lesbianism. There were no public queers at the time and any “homosexuals” were painted as bad people, even deranged people. Not much one would want to emulate.

After spending a great deal of time and energy trying to be heterosexual, I gave it up. Fortunately for me people began to come out as lesbian and gay, making it easier for me to accept who I was. What was really great about the early movement was that many started to band together forming organizations supporting the diverse aspects of our community – political, spiritual, social, philanthropic, business – any part of a healthy, well rounded life.

The evolution of the LGBT communities in the United States has been both inspiring and difficult. Any movement of oppressed people harbors the wounds of oppression, many times resulting in “horizontal violence,” hostility against our own. While oppression has changed its face and its tactics over the years, its current form is no less insidious. We continue to be denied the rights that all other US citizens enjoy and exercise. We have fought hard for the right to marry. In the few states where we have won that right, it is a limited right, limited to states’ rights of marriage, never full federal rights.

This status does not sit well with me.We have been thrown a bone and still not allowed to sit at the table. Gays and lesbians can serve in the military, but not as who they are. It is okay to stand up for and die for your country, but please don’t stand up for yourself. Fewer than half the states have laws that prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in both public and private jobs. Fewer than that have protection for gender expression.

I for one am tired of being separated out from the general citizenry. By virtue of law and a repressive culture, LGBT people are segregated in our own country. And until we have all the same civil rights as other Americans, we remain in a different class, an inferior class.

I am writing these thoughts on the 4th of July. I am very happy and grateful for all the freedoms I do have. I believe in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think it is “self evident” that they be applied to all citizens.

Our current level of progress is a bit confusing. On the one hand, Rachel Maddow is a proudly out lesbian whose political analysis hour on MSNBC is watched by millions, because of her brilliant mind and keen ability to cut through to the kernel of an issue. Recently she publicized and advocated against legislation brewing in Uganda which would have made being “homosexual” a crime punishable by death. Her coverage caused various US government officials, some of whom had originally supported the legislation, to criticize it and, for now, the proponents have backed off. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Uganda has forces in it who wish to execute LGBT people.

So we must continue our work on behalf of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people throughout the world. In far too many places oppression of our people takes the form of punishment, imprisonment and death – just for being who we are.

We celebrate Pride in San Diego just as we have for many years. We celebrate the strong, beautiful and creative people we are. We know how to come together. We know how to help and support one another and our community organizations. We know how to have a parade. Even when parade participants had to wear paper bags over their heads in order to protect themselves, their jobs and their families, we still had a parade.

Let’s keep the movement going in the direction of unity and full civil rights. We know who we are.