It was 1997. I had requested that in light of the number of suicides attempted and completed by GLBT youth, not because they were GLBT but because of how society spoke about and treated them for who they were, the Oklahoma City School District have sensitivity workshops for teachers that dealt with the GLBT kids in our schools, in the same way they had them when it came to other groups to which students belonged like Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians.

The GLBT kids had no role models, and any positive information about GLBT people was routinely denied and if made available was taken away often with public displays of anger. While there were plenty of activities for students based on the heterosexual model like king and queen of prom or home coming, and with Valentines day posters showing happy heterosexual, not only were they unable to see anything that included them, but if they wanted to participate in any activities, they would be expected to deny themselves and pose as the straight person they weren’t. Routinely, while religion was part of the atmosphere, but not all religions just Baptist Christianity, and the religion based negative assumptions about gay people were being freely expressed, information that was GLBT affirming was carefully covered going so far as to change pronouns so “he and he” became “he and she”, as openly gay authors and historical figures we presented as happily married heterosexuals or heterosexual couples dating.

In the book on AIDS in the high school library, while all the teenage heterosexuals were dating a series of people,the one Gay teen’s similar pattern of dating was referred to as careless promiscuity.

It took a while to convince the administrators of the district that the needs of GLBT students to have affirming information while reducing the freely expressed hateful myths was not a political thing, but a student physical and mental welfare thing as gay kids had to withstand all the negative misinformation about them that translated into treatment, words, and often physical attacks.

When the administration finally saw that GLBT kids were in the schools, and that teachers needed to be aware of that to avoid saying things that could be damaging, a committee was formed to study and update the policies on bullying, harassment, and discrimination. The members of that committee were eager to update the policies when it came to race, color, creed, national origin, disability, and marital status, but when it came to the GLBT kids those advocating for them were told that not everything could be handled right away, so they had to accept that the needs of the GLBT kids and their inclusion in policies would come somewhere down the road.

Rather than wait for things to happen, advocacy continued with presentations at school board meetings, information being supplied to school administrators, demonstrations, and appeals through the media, and even then it took twelve years to get the GLBT students included in policies on bullying, harassment, and nondiscrimination, and allowing affirming information to be provided in schools along with racial and religious information.

If action took twelve years to get things right, how far down the road would it have been if people had sat back and waited.

The phrase “somewhere down the road” is not only an indication that there is a reluctance to move forward, but is a very clear statement that nothing is ever going to get done.

That is why the recent action involving the Masterpiece Cakeshop is both insulting and dismissive of a whole class of people.

The owner of the cake shop had refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple claiming that as his personal religious belief is that marriage is only between a man and a woman, making the requested cake would mean he was taking part in something that violates that belief.

I am sure the same thing is true when it comes to guns since “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the Commandments that would be part of a person’s firmly held religious beliefs and selling someone a gun later used to kill another person would have the seller taking part in something that violates that belief.

Perhaps that is why Christians do not sell guns, right?

Now he and the State of Colorado have reached a new agreement to end subsequent litigation against him.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission will withdraw its administrative action against owner Jack Phillips, even though the commission found probable cause that the bakery violated state law when refusing to make a cake celebrating a gender transition for a transgender person’s birthday.

Phillips will voluntarily dismiss his federal court case against Colorado, which cited ongoing harassment from the state in the aftermath of the narrow ruling in his favor by the U.S. Supreme Court. That ruling did not deal with whether or not a person can discriminate against someone in violation of the law if it can be claimed equal treatment violates religion, but on procedural grounds where the commission had been judged to be a little over zealous.

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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser claims this agreement benefits all concerned, all that is if you ignore the GLBT people who will face discrimination they are protected against by law because of  claimed religious beliefs.

“After careful consideration of the facts, both sides agreed it was not in anyone’s best interest to move forward with these cases. The larger constitutional issues might well be decided down the road, but these cases will not be the vehicle for resolving them. Equal justice for all will continue to be a core value that we will uphold as we enforce our state’s and nation’s civil rights laws.”

Saying that seeing the case through benefits no one and that GLBT people will just have to continue waiting for some uncertain future time and event certainly sucks the credibility out of that last sentence

When an attorney asked Phillips to create a blue cake with a pink center to celebrate her gender transition from male to female, he declined on religious grounds.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission declared it had found cause that Colorado law requires Phillips to create the requested gender-transition cake, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT legal group, filed the federal lawsuit against Colorado, claiming ongoing harassment of Phillips.

Kristen Waggoner, senior Vice President of the U.S. legal division of Alliance Defending Freedom, had represented Phillips and said of the agreement,

“The state of Colorado is dismissing its case against Jack, stopping its six and a half years of hostility toward him for his beliefs. Jack’s victory is great news for everyone. Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences of opinion are essential in a diverse society like ours. They enable us to peacefully coexist with each another. But the state’s demonstrated and ongoing hostility toward Jack because of his beliefs is undeniable.”

This is her actual statement supposedly issued with no sarcasm intended.

Daniel Ramos, executive director of One Colorado, a GLBT rights group said,

“Despite the mutual agreement between the State of Colorado and Masterpiece Cakeshop, the law is still the law. No matter who you are, who you love, or what you believe, Coloradans across our state – including LGBTQ Coloradans and their families – are still protected under Colorado law from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations.”

Except, ‘cause Jesus.

While the Colorado Civil Rights Commission is out of the picture, Autumn Scardina, the transgender complainant in the state administrative case, can still pursue a claim on her own.

How long will this road be?