Today We Celebrate, Tomorrow We Persist

Each June, we find ourselves celebrating love, diversity, and PRIDE in one’s own identity or community, in solidarity with our friends, family, and loved ones in the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community. For many, this period of time encourages us to reflect on the strides and accomplishments achieved for the LGBTQ community through unity and action. One way that our society applauds these achievements is through city-wide Pride parades, which originally began as a form of protest for the discrimination and unequal treatment of the LGBTQ community. Today, Chicago’s very own pride parade is anticipated to host more than last year’s 1,000,000 LGBTQ individuals and allies, who will celebrate LGBTQ life, culture and community across Chicago.

Wellman Psychology & Associates encourages our readers and fellow members of the community to reflect upon the milestones achieved by courageous and brave LGBTQ individuals and advocates. Here in Chicago, an initial major milestone was made in 1961, when Illinois became the first state to repeal its sodomy law, legalizing same-sex relations. This was followed by a major stride in our own field of psychology, when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed the diagnosis of “homosexuality” from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), in an effort by mental health providers to refute the belief that same-sex attraction or relationships are an “illness.” These triumphant milestones will forever be celebrated.

Fortunately, courageous and brave LGBTQ individuals and advocates across the nation continue to make strides that must too be recognized and celebrated this year in Pride festivities.

 

A Decade of LGBTQ Milestones 

2008

  • The California Supreme court ruled that limiting marriage to opposite sex couples is unconstitutional.

2009

2010

  • Proposition 8, approved by voters in California, to make same-sex marriage illegal, is found unconstitutional by a federal judge.

2011

2012

2013

  • The US Supreme Court strikes down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to federal benefits.

  • The American Counseling Association issues statement voicing their disapproval of therapies intended to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, also referred to as conversion or reparative therapy.

2014

  • The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for legal same-sex marriages in five more states by allowing lower court rulings to stand, and therefore allowing same-sex couples to marry in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin. This also allows for the right to marry in Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

2015

2016

  • Eric Fanning was appointed secretary of the Army, making him the first openly gay secretary of a US military branch.

  • The Stonewall National Monument becomes the first national monument to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.

  • Forty-one openly lesbian, gay and bisexual Olympians compete in the summer games at Rio, a record high in Olympic history.

  • Kate Brown is sworn in as governor of Oregon, becoming the highest-ranking LGBTQ person elected to office in the United States.

2017

2018

 

This past decade has seen challenge and triumph, celebration and frustration, as the battle for equality continues. And, this battle impacts many in our community.

 

As mental health professionals at Wellman, we recognize areas in which further growth of mindset and practice is needed in our own field of psychology. While terminology in the DSM-V has been adapted, we optimistically hope for a future with fewer labels. Having long fought the stigma around mental illness, we battle in solidarity with our LGBTQ community, for a future not defined by labels, diagnoses, or difference.

Yet this June, we must be prideful; we must reflect on the milestones made by the LGBTQ community: our voice is being heard, our strength and passion amassing, and our goals fortified and clear. There lies hope in our continued persistence.

 

There’s motivation to be gained, love to be shared, and pride to be celebrated in acknowledging how far we’ve come in the past decade. Let pride fuel future strides in equality.

 

In 2018, we persist.

 

 

 

Many thanks Ryan Coventry, LPC, for his insight and expertise on this piece. 

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