Wandering recently through my local Kroger, I happened upon the Valentines card section. There were sections entitled “him to her,” “her to him,” even “from the cat,” yet I could not locate a single card for a gay couple. I knew people could be bigoted, but capitalism is an animal of its own. The fact Hallmark has yet to design cards that cater to the LGBT community is counterintuitive, especially in 2014 with the progress that has been made for gay rights.
Gina Webber, a junior political science major, has been out for four Valentines Days now and is excited to celebrate her first as a couple. She pointed out the fact that just as with LGBT Valentine’s Day cards, finding an appropriate wedding card can be just as difficult. Hallmark stocks cards in Spanish and has a Mahogany line aimed at African American customers, but a company can’t claim to embrace diversity if it’s doing so selectively. As Webber noted, “It’s ironic really, isn’t the whole point of Valentine’s Day to celebrate love on a universal level?”
When asked if she had anything special planned for Valentine’s Day, Webber said she and her girlfriend would likely stay in and watch season two of House of Cards, but it’s the little things she misses, like being able “to give her a simple kiss goodbye before we go to class that morning without worrying about people’s reactions.”
Another student, freshman Darby McNally, expressed concern over going out for Valentine’s Day, saying, “in some parts of the South I feel that being openly gay is almost a safety hazard.”
Webber and McNally’s unease is not misplaced. Georgia is one of only five states that has no laws governing hate crimes. On a day that’s meant to celebrate love, many members of the LGBT community must live in fear of doing just that. Hallmark and other card companies are not the ones to blame for the oppression of the LGBT community, but they are part of the problem. Not being able to find a card for your girlfriend is a symptom of a much larger issue, a pandemic if you will, and if there’s anyplace that needs a cure, it’s the South.
The state of Georgia refuses to acknowledge the existence of hate crimes based on sexual orientation, but the hostility is there. It could be the florist that gives her a dirty look when she asks for a bouquet for her girlfriend, the mother refusing to meet the girl her daughter is madly in love with, the frat boys who hoot and holler when they kiss goodbye. All of these are land mines to navigate, not to mention the frightening reality of physical acts of violence. The fact is love itself takes guts. You make yourself vulnerable to another person, you accept the possibility of rejection and of being hurt, hoping it never comes to that. It’s brave to tell someone you love them, but for someone in the LGBT community it’s so much more than that; being out on Valentine’s Day is an act of valor.