Join the Impact

It is happening in NYC and around the country this Saturday. Go to www.jointheimpact.com to find a protest in your area.

I am going to protest this coming Saturday. I am going to get up and get down to City Hall and say "NO!"

Proposition 8 passed in California which in effect changes the California constitution to take away rights from gays and lesbians to marry in that state. This is not preventing the possibility, the right was already there. It is REMOVING a legal right. It is taking away a right of a minority by the majority. It is discrimination 101.

Imagine if we said on November 3rd, "Excuse me ladies, don't bother going to the polls tomorrow because we have retracted women's right to vote in this country."

California has retracted gays and lesbians' right to marry. 18,000 gay and lesbian couples already have, but the door has closed.

ABSURD

So in the Constitution for the State of California, my home state, it will say in effect "Marriage is ONLY between a Man and a Woman, oh, and these 18,000 gays over here."

Huh?

It has been said to me that we need to put a face on who people are voting against. We have to stand up and be out at work and with Mormons and the black voters who voted for Obama and against us. We need to sip tea with Catholics that think it is a disorder. Etc. Etc.

Well, I agree BUT we also have to take to the streets, we gays and lesbians and straights-- and march NOT for gay rights. This should not be a gay rights issue, but FOR EQUAL RIGHTS UNDER THE EYES OF THE LAW.

That is all I want, equal rights as a citizen of this country. Whether I choose to exercise those rights is my business.

I think day to day "you're living next to a homo" awareness is important, however (and since we have America back. YAY!!!! ) so is protesting. That is as American as apple pie. But we need to take the anger out of it. This is true. I think the march on Selma was necessary and not just relying on telling people "I am black and I have feelings too."

Sometimes we need to take the streets and say NO.

My friends Greg and George have been together 26 years and got married in October. They marched in Long Beach and held their marriage certificate high. This was a visual that will not be forgotten by many. I think if lots of people marched and people got to see gay couples whom they knew it would benefit all of us.

A lot of people not directly affected by Prop 8, etc. have no real idea of it across the states. Or what it is really saying: some are more equal than others in this once great democracy. So this is another reason why I am going to City Hall in New York City on Saturday to protest. We can joke all we want, but Arkansas says some of us are not worthy of adopting a child or being a foster parent. I want to get up and say NO. And only after that will I share a Coke and smile with a Mormon and talk about it.

But I agree the real work is being a stand up person. Day to day to day. It is easier to hate an idea than a person, I think. I know many people who are not unapologetically OUT in their lives. That is their choice (FINALLY, something is a choice, ha!), but it is putting a day to day face on it that is important. Let's all do that. Let's be stand up people. And straight people can say to others that they have a friend or relative who is gay and these discriminatory propositions are just not right.

So I take to the streets and to the courts and to the press, but the real work is facing the "enemy" and having compassion and a discussion. Something that seemed impossible over the last 8 years. Now I think our new president and the new climate will make that MORE possible. But talking to people who feel like I should not have equal rights--I have to say right now that feels like getting into a wet bathing suit. But it is necessary. I realized this after coming back from Ohio where I was canvassing for Obama and had to talk to people who told me they could never vote for a black man because it says in the bible it would mean the end of the world, etc. and I had to speak to them about their feelings rather than say "WTF?! You have 4 kids, you're 23, you are on welfare, your boyfriend is on crystal meth, there is garbage piled high and a broken couch in your front yard and you have a tattoo with that deadbeat's name all over the side or your neck. Isn't the end of the world already here for you?!!" But instead we spoke person to person and I think we both were better for it. I have wanted to ghetto-ize myself in SF, NY and LA and leave the rest to "those assholes" (MY prejudice), but I appreciate better after Ohio how there has to be a discussion.

Oh by the way, I am that bagpiper you are standing next to and I am gay.

PLEASE LOOK AT THE LINK AND FOR YOUR AREA AND GO AND PROTEST FOR EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL.

http://jointheimpact.com/protest-locations/