Absolutely Every One of Us Can
By: Gary Hollander, Ph.D. - Posted on: 1/1/2010

Every lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender person who reads this message can. We can manage our lives because we are intelligent, resourceful people. We can because we already have managed our lives -- for better or worse. We can because if we get honest in our reflection of what was possible for us in the past, we have pretty much done what there was to do. If we didn't do what was possible for us to do, then we still can. If someone or something more powerful than us absolutely and completely blocked our way, then it was not possible to take charge. If there was some way to take charge and we didn't, we still can.

I am not trying to convince readers of this message that the real world isn't exactly as it is. I am not suggesting that it is completely rational to have blind faith that things will all turn out right for every lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person in Wisconsin. Rather, I am pointing to the reality that we have done great things as a people already because we can do great things. We will continue to do great things when we decide to -- because we can.

Our efforts to avoid a ban on same-sex marriage in Wisconsin didn't fail because we couldn't do it or because the opposition was more powerful. We failed because we didn't do it in a way that would work. But we can. We can figure out what to do, but we will need to do things differently.

Wisconsin's LGBT Community Centers continue to experience huge challenges in these times of economic downturn and confusing politics. There are ways, however, for them to be wildly successful, vibrant, meaningful, and financially solvent. We can decide what is to be done and do it. We can decide to take up leadership, step forward, make things happen. We can write letters, appeals, checks. We can show up. We can be a big part of their success stories.

Notice how often we hear someone say something like, "He/she is living in his/her own little world.” This is true for most of us lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Our personal worlds are too small. They are too often marked by beliefs that we can't make a difference. They are too often shaded with a sense of victimhood.

But the big wide world is vastly different from the small worlds that systems of gender oppression and gay oppression permit us.

In 2010, the Staff and Board of Directors of Diverse and Resilient wish all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Wisconsin bigger worlds; worlds in which we know we can.