A moment of gay.

[Neshanic]

Well congrats to all here, and especially the powers that make this site possible. The evil that was is now gone, and we can get our country back to where it should be.

Like other gays here we were told to just vote, and yours is coming.

Well, this is how it will go.

No legislation that will help us get equal rights will be introduced, acted on, brought up, mentioned, or chatted about between our newly elected Democrat majority members. The Hell you say! How can that be? 2008 is coming up and the last thing that we want is to have "Look Martha! Those Libruuuls are doing just as we thought for them homos!"

Well, I have become more pragmatic, I used to think that there would be a time when it will come around. I will comtinue to vote straight Democrat (no pun intended), and now know that what we deserve is always an election cycle excuse away, and expect it.

Such is the problem we will always have, and I know that it will never be solved.

Just another thought though, in 2008 when the screeching gets hot and heavy, please throw us gays under the bus more gently, as the powers that be at the DLC will do when poked by a Republican.

[Coexist]

1. this post makes me so sad. n/t

[Dob Bole]

2. There is a bit of a silver lining...

No, I don't expect Pelosi to immediately pass a gay marriage law...Bush would veto it anyway, so there's no incentive. But even in the last 3 years, in the face of opposition from 3 Republican branches of government, there has been progress. Don't forget that.

- Sodomy laws have been ruled unconstitutional in the entire U.S.

- Canada (the whole giant country north of us) has legalized same-sex marriage.

- The people of Connecticut passed a civil unions bill by referendum.

- On September 30, Rhode Island agreed to recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts.

- A recent ruling in New Jersey paved the way for either marriage or civil unions.

- Two days ago, voters in Arizona rejected a gay marriage ban

- Two days ago, Rick Santorum was thrown out of office.

- Barney Frank will hold a chairmanship in the new Congress.

So take heart. Huge progress has been made with Bush in office. How much more now that Democrats are in?

[justiceischeap]

3. Yeah, us gay people ruin everything

We're like those damn Greens that ruin everything too. Really, we shouldn't be a consideration at all just like those black people in the 50's and 60's and the womens' suffrage movement.

Look at all the great leaders we admire today and think about the naysayers who were against helping them get equal protection... If they hadn't fought and others hadn't fought for them, there would be no Conyers, Pelosi, Hillary (for those who like her), Obama, Waters, the list goes on and on.

I may be partial but as I recall Bill Clinton heavily courted the gay vote and I believe that the gay community helped him politically until he too threw us under the bus with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The tire tracks are starting to become permanent.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. You forgot to mention the "Defense" of Marriage Act

After wearing he would veto it, Clinton signed it late on a Friday afternoon to guarantee that it would get buried. He and Gore spent the next two months to the 1996 election "explaining" how gay people were better off with legislated bigotry and how we absolutely HAD to vote for him anyway.

:banghead:

[LeftHander]

5. Political Football - repetedly kicked by both sides...

The problem is that until the idea of "gay" no longer makes people feel uncomfortable then we will continue to gently thrown under the bus as the OP says and used by everyone to further some other agenda.

the OP is a very sad but truthful post.

Some have said that gay people don't really care much about marriage. That is not ture. I think most really do and despite the gains made by conservative centrists flipping from Republican to Democrat this year we still have a long way to go promote true progressive values in this country.

The thought that there are couples out there who so desperatly want to celebreate thier bond with the spritual and legal recognition that is marriage but they cannot...except in a few places, makes me very sad.

Last summer I saw a middle aged lesbian couple being married at Pride Fest along the lake shore in Milwaukee...I watched from a distance at the touching small ceremony. The ceremony meant everything to the participants but meant nothing legally and that was the tragic irony of the scene that made me cry.

So with all the back slapping and gloating, handshakes and victory speeches we still have left a vast section of humanity feeling used and put upon. The right wing conservatives gave the religious right what they wanted in their last twitching moments, 7 more states have told gay people they are less than human. My own state included, and that hurts really bad. I can see in the eyes of the people who look down when they see me approach. They voted for discrimination.

I had the opportunity to express myself on election day on our local news. The Tv crew was at the polling place they asked me as I exited what brought me out to vote. I told them, to make sure the Democrats have a good showing and to vote NO on the amendment to prevent state sponsored discrimination. I also said I was tired of gay people being used as a political football, being used to bring out the homophobe vote. I made the news.

Well to all who voted dem and yet voted to ban marriage, I hope that disrimination vote eats away at your soul and rots you from the inside until you realize it was indeed wrong.

Always remember, there is no better time for equal rights than right now.

[grizmaster]

6. I wish I could say you aren't right

but I honestly can't.


Gay rights are human rights. Let's hope for and work toward the day that that is recognized.

[radfringe]

7. I took a couple of day to do some thinking

sometimes it's best not to shoot from the hips. As Clinton recently said regarding the Democratic party in reference to Iraq - "we are not the party of cut and run, we are the party of stop and think"

Just as it applies to Iraq, there are many issues out there which applies to "stop and think". So before I go shooting my mouth off, I wanted to stop and think.

I'm 51, I accepted and embraced my 'dykeness' 30 years ago. This was a time when Anita Bryant set the gay community on fire with her prejudices and bigotry. It launched gay pride marches. My first visit to Provincetown saw business after business refusing to serve Orange Juice as a form of protest against her.

I saw men holding hands and kissing in public. I saw women holding hands and kissing in public. I saw everything I was denied elsewhere in the country.

This was also a time when AIDS became known to the public. It was something to fear, and because it was mainly identified with gay men - being homosexual also was something to fear.

It was a time of the birth of a liberation movement, and a time of great fear.
Not too different than today's situation? With the mid-term elections we, as Americans, have the beginnings of liberation from the neo-con, and we also have fear. Be it fear of terrorist attacks or fear of gay marriage it's still fear.

Sadly, once the noise over Anita Bryant faded - so did the original energy which gave birth to a gay liberation movement. Both faded. Instead of remaining united, we, as the gay community, started to splinter. To use a cliche "Unite we stand, divided we fall".

Looking back, we have come a long ways. There are laws which prohibit discrimination based on sexual identity. That's one step on the road to real equality, and we still have a long way to go.

When Clinton was elected, he had promised to address the gay community's issues. What we got was "don't ask-don't tell" and not much else in the way of national action.

As much as I enjoyed watching a 'moral values" Repub get taken down by his own lack of values - the Foley scandal also glued the notion of pedophilia with homosexuality and thereby making it all the more difficult for the gay community to be accepted. Once again we are something to be feared.

Haggard's admission is another example of where bigotry and misconceptions
have caused harm. Haggard admited being gay is something he has struggled with all his life. Why should it be something to struggle against? Now, he's in some sort of religious rehab treatment. Will it be successful? No. He may be able to repress his natural sexuality for a time, but it will re-emerge and it will be something he will struggle with for the rest of his life unless he accepts himself as he is, as his God made him.

It probably never occured to him that maybe God called him into religious service not because of his faith or beliefs, but rather because he is gay. And in being gay and religious, he would be able to set an example to others not to turn away from God because of misconceptions being promoted by bigots.

When I was very young, my brother and I were with our grandfather. There was a black couple walking down the street. My grandfather pointed to them, and whispered to us "see those people? that's what happens when you don't take a bath". Being young, my brother and I thought this was funny.

A few weeks afterwards, while with our mother, we saw a black man crossing the street. My brother and I from the back seat of the car, giggled "that's what happens when you don't take a bath."

Our mother patiently explained that this was wrong because God made everyone, and it didn't matter what color, just like people have different hair or eye color they also have different skin color and it didn't matter to God.

I remember saying to my mother "Did God make the martians too?" (I liked space movies). My mom said "Yes, God made everything and everyone and all things on all planets."

When I was struggling with my "dykeness" - I remembered this incident, I remembered my mom saying God made everything, and I thought, if God made everything and God doesn't make mistakes then I must be ok even if everyone else doesn't think so. It felt right and my struggle with myself ceased.

to change the struggle with our culture and all it's bigotry and prejudice is going to take longer. It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to happen slowly. yes, laws can be passed - but acceptance as true equals is going to go more slowly.

As a movement, we need to unite. We need to set aside our nit-picking difference before we can expect the Dems or Repubs to realize they need us as much as we need them.

The Repubs reached out to the Evangelicals, who were more than eager to join their ranks. The Repubs did it with promises of "values" and with fear that if they did not join the repubs those values would be destroyed.

Reaching out to the gay community is more difficult because so many of us still hide in closet. This also makes it difficult to create a movement which is large enough and powerful enough to get the political parties to pay attention. We need to start rekindling the energy that began with Anita Bryant's crusade.

ok I've blathered enough, hope I've been coherant and not too rambling...