It feels good to take two steps forward, even if the dance is not over.

If you're wired at all, you know that this is a big week for many gays and lesbians. The remarkable Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon symbolically launched - for the second time with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom - a wave of activism via participation in the institutionalization of marriage between two members of the same sex. This definitely marks - along with "victories" in Massachusetts and Oregon - the beginning of a new era. Of course, it's really a continuation of an era of human rights expansion.

Remarkably, transgender people also win this week. The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) reported today that the American Medical Association passed a resolution [PDF] calling for the removal of exclusions to health insurance that unfairly target the transgender population. Such exclusions prevent people from receiving medical care related to "Gender Identity Disorder," the beloved moniker assigned by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM. The exclusions translate to no coverage for hormones or psychotherapy or surgery for any cross-gender purposes, regardless of whether you are clinically diagnosable as having a true pathology, and despite the clinical evidence that cross-gender therapies for transsexuals are successful in the majority of cases (no source; no time).

These are small victories that seem to affect only a small percentage of the population; what we see here, though, is an example of the continued evolution of human consciousness. The healthy expression of the green meme is finding its way into more minds (go here for an excellent intro to the Spiral Dynamics (SD) framework of human development).

As encouraged as I am by this, I can't help but keep in mind that green's human rights violations are happening all over the world, in ways that are vastly more disturbing than the issue of GBLT oppression. I just look forward to the day - and it's coming - that the systems of government in the First World go second tier (SD). I'm all for imposition of policies (onto lower memes) that support all members of a global society towards building sustainable lives.

Changing one mind at a time. Hope abounds.