The following is the speech given by Zaradich at the recent Vigil in Memory of Tyler Clementi and Other Victims of Homophobia-Driven Suicide, Oct. 8 at DePaul University.
As we've heard the names of those we've lost, we cannot help but consider the potential of humanity that expired with them.
We cannot help but consider the loss of great spirit, and the loss of a childhood—a childhood, for these children had yet to experience the world as an adult.
It gets better. Well, sort of.
Yes, things have changed. We've made progress. But we have yet to complete our mission. We have yet to do our part. We have yet to offer these children a world to which they can look forward.
These children suffered the brutality of bullying, driven by a vicious homophobia that, make no mistake of it, was learned—learned, I say, for something so vicious could never lie innately in the mind of an infant, waiting to crawl out in a small number of years. No, something taught these children to hate, to point out the weak, and to viciously malign them.
This didn't occur in a vacuum. This didn't occur because one or two bullies exist. This didn't occur because some of these children grew up in small towns in Indiana, Minnesota, or Texas.
No, these murders happened because of an apathetic society that allows itself to reject the notion that LGBTQ people are, indeed, equal with their straight and cisgender counterparts.
These children grow up in an unsure era.
They consider—Will I ever be married? Does God really love me? Will my family ever accept me?
And who can wonder that as they look into a future filled with Prop 8s and Andrew Shirvells, Fred Phelpses and Illinois Family Institutes, they are literally scared to death.
No, my friends, this is not acceptable. But it won't be enough for us to come here and hold a candle. It won't be enough for us, tucked away in ol' progressive big city Chicago to repeat their names. No, it will only be enough when ALL of you stand together and work for equality, nay demand it with all of your voices crying out together—THIS IS OUR COUNTRY! THESE ARE OUR CHILDREN! WE WILL NOT LET THEM DIE! EQUALITY NOW!
The cry of EQUALITY NOW! should be as dear to us as any cry in the wilderness. Build a future for our children! Give them hope! Light the way, and don't just say it gets better—demand that it be so.
To the children listening, hear this: you are the most beautiful creatures God has ever created. And when the fear is so great, and the pain is too much, and the world simply too heavy to bear, remember this crowd of people who love you. Hold tight to this image, and hold tight to the strength that is within you, and survive.
For I promise to you: I won't stop working until we force a new sun to shine out equality over the entire earth, and your future along with it.
PLEASE SEE LAST WEEK'S SPECIAL "IT GETS BETTER" SECTION
ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE
IT GETS BETTER: Protecting Our Youth BY Kathleen Sebelius and Arne Duncan www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29158
IT GETS BETTER: by Dean Littner www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29159
IT GETS BETTER: Surviving, by Brittany Barton www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29160
IT GETS BETTER: Supporting My Son by Maureen Goldin www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29161
IT GETS BETTER: For Those We Lost by Matthew Zaradich www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29162
IT GETS BETTER: Resources www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29163
