Mykki Blanco On Marriage Equality: “This Will Do More For Gays And Lesbians Than People Think”
“Gay and lesbian children will now grow up in a country where their very existence wont make them second-class citizens.”
When the Supreme Court ruled this morning that marriage is a fundamental right that should be afforded to all American citizens, Mykki Blanco was north of the border, at the airport in Calgary, waiting for a flight home to New York following a performance at the Sled Island Festival. Over a crackly Google Phone call (and email when that eventually gave out), the NYC rapper spoke with amazement about the court's monumental decision and the impact it will have on the country. "It will do more for the social psychology of gays and lesbians than people think," they said. Below, Blanco speaks briefly on the decision and what comes next.
How are you feeling?
I feel is that this is such an amazing thing for people who are teenagers or are children. They are now going to be able to go their whole entire lives living in a country where they won't have to feel like second-class citizens. They won't have to feel less than. They won't have society telling them indirectly that they are unequal. That feels really good, to know that I am of an age where I am young enough that children are going to grow up in an America that I am a part of, that exists.
But the other side of me is like, I just can't believe it took so long! The world is so different than it was just four years ago. When I started Mykki Blanco, no one was having any conversations about transgender issues or transgender rights. Even if we haven't come full circle, the country has accelerated extremely in the last, like, two years.
Are you surprised that this day came at all?
The fact that it's taken so long to acquire a basic human right is very telling about where a certain generation in our country was, or is. Look at our parents' generation and our grandparents'. But rather than focus today on the negatives, I think we should really just celebrate what this means for future generations
What do you think this means for our country? For the LGBTQ community?
This means that gay and lesbian children will now grow up in a country where their very existence wont make them second class citizens. They are equal. We are equal, and whatever your moral qualm may be with homosexuality—inequality and injustice, at least regarding marriage, it is no longer institutionalized. This will do more for the social psychology of gays and lesbians than people think.
Is there anything that you are worried this decision won't change or impact?
Our country is in such an insane paradigm shift who knows what will happen in the next freaking six months! I don't know [what comes next], I truly don't .
Do you have any messages for Obama today?
I will always feel blessed to have been alive to witness the sweeping changes this individual brought to our country. Obama isn't perfect, but he's begun slowly but surely to bring this country out of the dark ages .