As a gay man, I know America has always been hateful – but this Independence Day, I'm more patriotic than ever

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I’m a guy who once turned up draped in a Union Jack to a Fourth of July barbecue. My disdain for America’s political and cultural attitudes towards race, immigration, labour, LGBT people, and, well, most things is well documented. You can hardly blame me; growing up gay in south-eastern Kentucky, I saw the worst of America every single day.

There are many progressive Americans who, with Trump as president, feel this isn’t the country they knew. That they are largely white, straight, and middle-class is telling. For those of us from marginalised communities, this is the America we’ve known our entire lives. Forgive us if there’s little love lost.

The story of America is the story of slavery, of Jim Crow, of disenfranchising women and raiding gay bars. America has always been hateful. Trump didn’t cause this, he just embodies it.

Still, my feelings are complicated. Despite deeply hating parts of it, I love this country – not for what it is, but for what it purportedly strives to be. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,” Thomas Jefferson wrote. It seems such a simple premise now, but in 1776 it was nothing short of revolutionary.

Of course at the time black people weren’t considered people – they were considered chattel. Women weren’t considered people, but their husband’s property. We’ve come a long way since then, as Congresswoman Barbara Jordan – herself a Black lesbian – pointed out back in 1974.

Referring to the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States, she said “I was not included in that ‘We, the people.” I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’”

The story of America is of some outright cruelty towards women, black people, Native people, gay people, and immigrants. But it is also the story of people who fought against and overcame this. It’s the story of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in 1831. It’s the story of August Spies and Albert Parsons, who were executed for the Haymarket Riots though they were likely innocent – and Lucy Gonzalez Parsons, who carried on her husband’s labour activism and organising.

The story of America is the story of Alice Paul, who went on a hunger strike and was tortured in prison to win votes for women, and of Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepherd who both died blazing a trail so I could live as an openly gay man. It is the story of Gus Garcia and Cesar Chavez who fought to include Latinos in the American narrative. It is the story of Wilma Mankiller and countless Native Americans throughout history who have fought to preserve their sovereignty and culture.  It is the Freedom Riders, Malcolm X, Diane Nash, Ella Baker, and all the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

We have a long way to go, but we stand on the shoulders of giants. It’s so important to remember them and celebrate their legacy today. Progressive America cannot become so easily forlorn, mourning for a country that never existed. You cannot divorce Trumpism and American values anymore than you can Dr King and American values. They are two parts of a whole.

The question is which part will we allow to grow. If progressives throw up their hands in despair, authoritarianism and bigotry win. But if we fight back, we win.

This Independence Day, it’s important to remember that Donald Trump may be as American as apple pie, but so are we. And if we keep fighting, in the words of the old Civil Rights anthem, “we shall overcome.” We always do.