Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere–MLK

I want to elaborate on this meme shared from an old high school classmate. I grew up in Austin and raised my family in San Antonio. Until the last 6 years, I realized that my cultural, faith, and political lens were definitely in line with the Hispanic Catholic community. The Hispanic Catholic community is quite progressive in the areas of poverty, healthcare, racial equality, and immigration. However, they are more conservative when it comes to anything related to a patriarchal culture such as marriage, sexuality, abortion, etc….. Since this type of culture deeply impacted my thinking over my parenting years, it took a lot for me to see a fuller scope of civil and human rights. Trump’s evilness was the catalyst to make this happen when he first rose to power.

Between my grandmother on my mother’s side deeply instilling values of racial equality during my formative years, raising my family in San Antonio, and working with the disability community over most of my career, this was a foundational springboard to understanding LGBTQ+ rights later.

Joe Biden once said that all injustices and bigotry are interwoven and connected. He is absolutely 100 percent correct. One cannot seek racial justice and fair immigration practices without including LGBTQ+ human rights. This is why the Pride flag many times includes Black and Brown colors alongside Pride colors. Justice should be equally-applied.
Let me explain. I have learned over the last 6 years that all civil rights are human rights. This is not seeking more rights than others for LGBTQ+ people or other groups but fair and equal accesses and rights that we would seek for a Person of Color or anyone else without exception. The right to safety, the right to economic equity, the right to marriage/family, stability, etc…..to be treated with equal human dignity and value should be applied to every group of people because each person deserves equal human dignity regardless of who they are and without exception. Equal human dignity means equal access to necessities like healthcare, rights like marriage equality, legal protections, and any thing else a human being should have. For the religious person, this should even be more important because each person who walks this earth is made in the image of God and has equal worth, dignity, and value. Stripping basic human rights like citizenship or attempting to overturn gay marriage both devalue someone’s humanity. Seeking to secure legal protection and provide equal opportunities for everyone without exception aren’t “socialism.” This is basic humanity.

What we currently have going on is a crisis of civil and human rights. I hope and pray it’s not too late to restore the constitutional mechanism which provides life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for us all. As the great MLK said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”