Sarah Kate Ellis on lingering discrimination in NYC
CBS News asked noted figures in the arts, business and politics about their experience in today's civil rights movement, or about figures who inspired them in their activism.
Sarah Kate Ellis, media executive, president & CEO of GLAAD
Please share an experience in which you realized that the U.S. has/has not achieved equality in race, gender or sexual preference, and the impact on you.
As a child, St. Patrick's Day was one of my favorite times of the year. I have vivid memories of walking down Fifth Avenue, hand in hand with my mom, two small specks in a sea of green. As a native New Yorker from an Irish-Catholic family, I still count those times with my mom at the St. Patrick's Day parade as some of my favorites.
Since those days, I've gone on to marry my beautiful wife, Kristen, had two kids of my own, and now lead the nation's most well-known organization working to create a world where everyone can live the life they love, including LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Americans. It's a role I consider to be the highlight of my career, and it's a role that brought me back to the St. Patrick's Day parade.
You see, I can't share the same memories of Fifth Avenue with my children because I'm gay. Nearly a half-century after patrons at the Stonewall Inn first took a stand for equality, and even years after marriage equality finally came to New York, there's still one of New York's oldest institutions openly discriminating against gay families.
It's shocking. But it's also eye-opening. If anti-LGBT discrimination can still linger in New York City, then it's clear that the fight is far from over.
I was honored to be at the helm of GLAAD earlier this year when we said "enough is enough" and held the parade's sponsors accountable for this blatant act of discrimination. Sponsors like Heineken and Guinness agreed and quickly suspended their support, urging parade organizers to respect all loving families . . . families like mine.
It remains to be seen what parade organizers will decide, but what's clear is that, despite the incredible progress the LGBT community has seen in the past year, there's still much work to be done.
For more info:
- glaad.org
- Follow Sarah Kate Ellis on Twitter
- "Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made" by Kristen Henderson and Sarah Kate Ellis (Simon & Schuster); Also available in eBook format