Crossing borders is difficult. TCK’s cross borders all the time, cultural, national and political borders. But there are also boarders for rights and equality. It’s hard to be a TCK and to have that travel itch, but it can also be really hard when you have that itch, and the world is less accepting of your other identities.
In the previous articles of this series I gave a brief overview of marriage equality in the United States and around the world, and interviewed Elsa, a French TCK living in Australia who is currently in a monogamous lesbian relationship.
For my third and final piece on marriage equality I have interviewed Anna, a German TCK living in Colorado. While she is living in the United States Anna is very active in the LGBT+ community, she identifies as queer and is an active member of the Human Rights Campaign.
Anna has also recently worked in one of her international studies classes towards bringing LGBT+ tolerance and education to local schools in Fort Collins. She was working towards instituting a program, which educates about the LGBT+ community in order to de-stigmatize the community and foster early acceptance.
Anna’s father is Italian and her mother is German, officially she has German citizenship and is currently trying to gain American citizenship because she has spent the majority of her life here. But these borders and technicalities are complicated.
Currently, same-sex marriage is not legal in Italy, but there is a case where a same-sex marriage from the U.S. is being recognized in a town in Italy. Germany is working towards marriage equality though with registered partnerships similar to civil unions, “At least they’re fighting,” says Anna about this subject. “I think we should let everyone marry regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation etc.”
Crossing borders and juggling citizenships is hard enough, add an LGBT+ identity to the mix and you’ve got a mess trying to fill out paperwork. It’s harder than it should be. Loving someone is hard enough; we shouldn’t have to prove to the world through paperwork how we feel about the loves of our lives. Marriage equality is an important issue to pay attention to, because it’s not just Gay Rights or Queer Justice, its Human Rights.
There are larger issues beyond marriage equality that are just as or more important such as queer and trans* youth homeless, violence against queer and trans* people, racial justice, immigrant justice, universal healthcare, economic justice and trans* justice. There are so many issues surrounding human rights, hidden diversities deserve attention and protection just as much as visible diversities. It’s our responsibilities as citizens to know what’s happening in the world and to take responsibility for what we can change. It’s our responsibility as citizens of the world to make this planet an accepting place.
And to finish this off here’s a video from Kids React to really make you smile, because when children see the truth they have a way of putting us back in our place!
