In the watershed essay “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau writes, “Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” Thoreau would know: in 1846 he spent one lonely night in jail for refusing to pay his taxes, in protest of the Mexican-American War. This one act revolutionized the very act of revolution, inspiring independence in India and the civil rights movement in our own country. In Thoreau’s view the intentional violation of unjust laws can change the world.
The spirit of civil disobedience has infiltrated the gay rights movement. The first inkling of such a spirit can be found in the Stonewall riots, but there are also some recent examples. The Campaign for Southern Equality has launched the WE DO campaign, which encourages gay couples to apply for marriage licenses in states where gay marriage is disallowed.
In order to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Lt. Dan Choi chained himself to the White House fence and organized sit-ins in several congressional offices. While some of these protests have resulted in successful change, gay and lesbian Americans are still forced, in many cases, to abide by laws and regulations that require them to hide their true identities and demean their lifestyles. A glaring example would be the filing of an annual tax return under the United States Tax Code.
Full Story from the Huffington Post
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