| Description |
As the lesbian daughter of a lesbian mother growing up in the rural American west in the 1980s I was acutely aware that the law did not exist to protect my family. We were "those people." The definition of "those people" has changed over time in our country. We have been (among others) slaves, immigrants, the poor, blacks, women, and in my childhood- the AIDS carrying queers. Many people did not, and still do not, believe the law should apply to us, that we do not deserve equality. However, the legal reality is that our Constitution says that the laws do apply, that we must all be treated equally under the law. In the written portion of this thesis, I tell the story of my own legal wedding in Canada and how it became legal in my home state of Utah. Because there are 1,138 federal laws and programs in the United States that are in some way influenced by marital status, marriage is the fastest way to protect the most people under the most laws. By being seen as "normal" people who fall in love and value family the same as everyone else in America, we gain an immeasurable amount of understanding and respect in the public eye. The big secret in the LGBTQ community is that we are just as boring as the rest of the country. For the artistic portion of this thesis I have created ten hand sewn and painted fabric flags, forty color photographic portraits, and an installation of all 1,138 federal aws and programs. The flags graphically illustrate the progression of marriage rights, the progression of hope, in each U.S. state, at the time of creation this was still a very dynamic legal battlefield. The series of portraits of the Utah LGBTQ community show the humanity of our community and tell the personal stories of those affected by the lack of full civil rights. The portraits are an attempt to show a deeper truth about who we are in our everyday lives, to air our family "laundry" in public for the world to see. We are your neighbors, your family members, your elected officials, your doctors, and your children's school friends. We are everywhere and everyone. It is time for you to see us, to realize we are just people, living the same lives, dreaming the same dreams. |
