Gay rights a long trek despite 'rocket ship to equality'

Maybe the crowds were bigger. Maybe more "straight allies" joined in. Maybe those who turned out for Rochester Pride and events like it nationwide this past weekend had moved beyond tolerance and were reveling in recent legal decisions from marriage equality to workplace protections.

"I guess what it really comes down to is the normalizing of our movement," said Scott Fearing, executive director for The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.

Nobody was counting attendance at the culminating Pride Picnic on Sunday afternoon in Genesee Valley Park. For the first time in 24 years, no ticket was required. The event was free, and estimates were that upwards of 2,000 people from children to seniors turned out. Organizers say Pride events are increasingly joined and sponsored by faith-based groups, service organizations and businesses. There are questions about remaining relevant. But there also were debates years ago about preserving culture while going mainstream, activists said.

The movement is far from finished.

"We are so still in the infancy of the journey of civil rights," said Christopher Hennelly, co-chairman of Rochester Pride 2015. "Even though it feels like we have taken a rocket ship to equality, we still must walk."

That rocket ship has been fueled by recent events — from last month's Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, to last week's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finding that federal law bars anti-gay discrimination in the workplace. Add in the dismantling of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and it would seem the hurdles activists have pushed against for years have fallen.

Yes, and no.

"There's a lot of work we still need to do, and it is not unique to our community," Fearing said. "What we're finding is equality on the books doesn't necessarily equal equality in life."

Fearing and others points to the continuing efforts of blacks, women and the disabled to find equal footing years after laws changed to give them that right.

"We are going to have to follow that same trajectory," said Asemblyman Harry Bronson, D-Rochester — who worked with former-Gov. Mario Cuomo in the 1990s to secure domestic partner benefits and with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011 on marriage equality.

While still focused on cementing gains in marriage equality, activists spoke of the need for attention on issues of housing and other matters relevant to seniors. While many people rely on family and children as they age, those in the LGBT community more often find themselves without that support. Other issues include the push to codify protections at the federal level, and secure protections at the state level specifically for the transgender population. Services are needed for the significant share of homeless youths who are gay, lesbian and transgender, activists said.

There also is an expectation, for Hennelly anyway, that the LGBT community is ready to see a divergence of politics, greater racial diversity and economic divergence. In short, he said: "We've got work to do."

Holding up a Rochester Pride events pamphlet, he noted the sci-fi theme for the weekend: "May the Pride be With You." Despite all the gains, he said, many of the hundreds who filled Genesee Valley Park on Sunday would tell you privately they are not out at work, or to their family or in other parts of their life.

"We can have TV shows. We can have court decisions," Hennelly said. "We can have the president of the United States say, 'Be proud of who you are.' But until you have that pride within yourself, nothing changes for you."

BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com