It's time for GLBT citizens to assert themselves.

[Zhade]

We're all basking in the glow of the Democratic win. It's a great feeling. So many issues to deal with, and real hope in the likes of Waxman. Conyers.

Meehan.

Yes, that's right - the man who is going to help kill the disastrous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell (But Maybe Get Fired/Abused/Intimidated/Blackmailed If Your Secret Is Discovered)" policy.

I don't have to tell my fellow queerfolk how important equal protection under the law is - we've all had issues with not having it.

Meehan means to help GLBT citizens gain that protection in the military, as all citizens who fight for this country (even when it's dead wrong) should equally posess the assurance of just treatment. This is a good thing.

Some here seem to disagree. Some think it shouldn't be pursued, that we have too many other challenges to deal with.

I agree...that we have many challenges to face. I disagree with those who think we can't multitask, and I heartily disagree with those bigots who think we shouldn't have equal protection under the law.

My fellow members of the GLBT family, please do not let their discouragement take hold.

Don't let their pleas that we wait for a never-gonna-happen-perfect-moment to fight for our rights sink in.

We have to stand up. Enough with asking the straight community for permission to attain our full, deserved equal rights and protections as citizens of this country.

Nothing less than full equality is acceptable. These are our inherent rights, as much ours as those held by straight members of society. We must fight for them; we cannot be sure anyone else will.

For myself, I am going to continue to fight, to in fact increase the pressure to achieve these rights. Those who think I should wait, I say "no, I will not wait on your permission one moment longer". Those who think we can't fight this fight along with others, I say "give the party and the people some credit - there's tons of wonderful people who can fight all the good fights, because the WORLD is on our side!"

I will not stop because someone finds it politically inconvenient. I will not rest out of fear implanted by another.

And always remember: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Please, those not in this fight, don't make the mistake of thinking you'll be able to stop us. We've waited long enough.

It's time.

[VelmaD]

1. Don't ever let some idiot tell you...

what should be important to you. Just because they can't walk and chew gum at the same time doesn't mean we can't care about and work on several issues at once.

[Jamastiene]

2. Kicked and Nominated.

:thumbsup: Well said, my friend, well said.

[LeftyMom]

3. kicked and nom'd

:kick:

[readmoreoften]

4. There is no better time to push for proper treatment of GLBTs in uniform.

Can the yellow ribbon crowd afford to discredit wounded and struggling gay and lesbian soldiers and their families. This has the potential to flip quite a few people-- a 60 minutes segment would be amazing.

[immerlinks]

8. A Sixty Minutes Segment?

That is a brilliant idea. It would take a lot of courage for a GLBT soldier to appear on national television. Better have a battalion of lawyers available to protect them. But the effect would be devastating on the right wing's bigoted position.

[readmoreoften]

12. How about a soldier injured in the war who is no longer on duty?

What are they going to cut off VA benefits for coming forward? I hope someone does.

[TygrBright]

5. Yes, please! It's too easy to deny rights to "invisible" people, especially...

...when they're quiet and nice and inconspicuous. Being gay isn't like having a different skin color, gay people can and do blend quietly in among the population of their communities. So it's way too easy to call gay people "them" and assume that "they" are just a small number of creepy weird different people someone else knows.

If each and every gay person wore a bright lavender t-shirt that says "I'm _Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender_" all day, wherever they were, for three days in a row, I'm guessing that almost everyone would be totally stunned to see all those lavender t-shirts around them: delivering their mail, driving their bus, replacing their transmission, responding to their emergency 911 call, ringing up their groceries, processing their mortgage application, etc., etc., etc.

And the sight of all those lavender t-shirts around, for three days, on smiling, pleasant, ordinary people doing their ordinary day-to-day business might make them think. And the next time a determined delegation shows up at the State Capitol to make a point about equal rights, some of those thoughts might bear fruit.

It just makes me DIZZY with rage when I hear the ignorant, stupid, mean-spirited rhetoric used to marginalize gay people, either because of fear, or hate, or (worst!) political expediency. I want to go up to that person and grab them by the lapels and get in their faces and say, "HEY! That's my SISTER you're talking about. And my UNCLE. And my BEST FRIEND. And my FAVORITE TEACHER. You got a problem with them? You got a problem with ME, asshole! Now what was that you were saying?"

Sometimes I think the ol' Minnesota Nice sunk in TOO far.

regretfully,
Bright

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. S I G H. We *have* been asserting ourselves

The problem is, the media refuses to acknowledge the issues we are trying to raise, the politicians are wishing desperately that we would just go away (except on election day, of course) and the party shills (looks around) are very quick in telling us to shut up and stop distracting people from the real issues. :eyes:

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

10. My experience in the Navy

i was in long before "Don't ask, don't tell". But I rarely asked, and seldom told. The goddess smiled at me and instead of ending up on a ship, I was home based at Moffett Field where I rented an apartment in town so I didn't have to sleep with the drunks in the barracks, and could drive to San Francisco most nights of the week. I had a great time, (but hated the Vietnam war issue). Men in my unit that made a pass at another who was uncomfortable with it usually told on the guy, but he was just transfered to another Squadron. One guy was found whacking off in the cockpit of an airplane, and he was just transfered to another squadron. The only person I knew of that got kicked out of the navy for a sexually related incident was a straight guy. I became aware of the incident because I was in charge of boxing up classified material when we were about to deploy. I had to make an inventory of what I was boxing up. I found a bag that had been taped up with the company commanders name on it. I didn't know what it was. I opened it to figure how I should label it. There was a picture a sailor had taken of himself and his wife, that had been found by the babysitter. He was given a discharge and that's what the papers were about.

I didn't feel the military was that discriminating, unless an individual was making a nuisance of themselves. But there were individuals that had bad attitude and I was able to ignore them for the most part.

But after getting out of the Navy and going back to college, a GSU (Gay Student Union) was formed on campus and I joined. The student body of campus voted to allow us on, but the President of the campus didn't want us. The Student Union voted to hire a lawyer and fight for our rights to be on campus Twice before it was recognized. (The lawyer didn't file the paperwork in a timely manner the first time and we lost the ability to proceed further with the first case, so it had to start up all over again, with a new batch of student body officers. The President of the Student Body the second time ended up dead in the Newman's Center just off campus, reported as self inflicted gunshot. That I was VERY SAD about. He was a wonderful, kind and beautiful man. )...

I read your post as coming with a lot of anxiety or something, and i think things have been moving along pretty good. But keep up work of the issue, there could be a big improvement. I just have never felt the need to "wear the purple T-shirt"...but for 31 years I have lived with the man I live with now and everyone who knows me knows "Us". I just took him last September to my 40th High School Reunion. He wore the red T-shirt, "Land Of The Free, (some restrictions apply, void where prohibited)" and I wore the black "Veterans For Peace".

Take care, and Good Luck.

[Zhade]

19. You're right, of course.

What I mean is this: when people say we shouldn't work on this now, ignore them.

Let them know we are not waiting for them and not asking their permission, and that we WILL fight this fight, EVEN IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT.

[LostinVA]

22. I got your OP -- well done n/t

[Chipper Chat]

7. Dont ask Dont Smell could be ended in January 2009.

All it would take is an executive order by President WhateverDemocrat.
Remember that Clinton tried it his first year in office but Colin Powell and FELLOW-DEMOCRAT HOMOPHOBE Sam Nunn raked him over the coals for it and Big Dawg retreated. With a hefty Dem COngress elected in '08, the time might be right for all this fukkin discrimination against the gay American citizens to end forever.
:party: :bounce: :beer:

[ninkasi]

9. I agree...it's past time

I'm a straight woman, but to me the whole discussion of GLBT rights is absurd. As humans, we are all entitled to the same rights. It's a question of equality for all of us. No change ever comes at the right time, whether it is abolishing slavery, giving women the vote, doing away with segregation, or acknowledging that same sex relationships are absolutely the normal thing for many people.

Why should I, simply because I'm a woman, and I am only attracted to men, have any more or fewer rights that a woman attracted to other women? That's not right, and it's not moral. Even some homophobes grudgingly admit that some are born attracted to the same sex. They try to make the point that as long as gays or lesbians don't act on their normal instincts, they will some how be considered ok.

Many conservatives seem to feel that they have a right to dictate to others what they may, or may not do in regards to their sexual relationships, or in their relationships. They do not have this right. I do not have this right. Next week, a couple who have been dear friends for many, many years are coming to town, to spend Thanksgiving with the aunt of one of them. They will be bringing their adopted son, who has been with them for over a year. He was adopted in the Ukraine.

Just think how completely American and normal this is. A couple who has finally fulfilled their desire to have a child, are flying, as many millions of others are, into town to share a holiday with relatives. My daughter will pick them up at the airport, and she and I will get to meet their son in person. We have seen pictures, and gotten letters, but this will be the first actual meeting.

What's more normal, or completely ordinary, than that? They could be any other couple, except that they are gay. Otherwise, everything else is the same. It is really ludicrous that in this day and age, we should even have to be discussing "gay rights". They are not gay, or hetero rights, they are human rights, and should be treated as such.

[Zhade]

20. You get it.

Thank you.

[nofurylike]

11. k&r. but know that we have, all along, been doing so. ty. eom

[foreigncorrespondent]

13. ZHADE!!!!

I think I love you!!!!!

Wonderfully said!!!!

[Sapphocrat]

14. Zhade...

...have I already used up my quota of telling you I love you this week?

K&R

[Erechtheides]

15. hear hear!

k & r

We've got a lot of work to do.

[jpwhite]

16. straight people should speak out too

I think it's time that us who are liberals/progressives should speak up even if we are straight. Why should our friends who are gay be discriminated against? Why should we have a segment of our society treated as if they aren't equals to us? This is not right. As long as one part of our society is mistreated, we will never be a great country.

I subscribe to soulforce.org. It's an organization that fights for the rights of people who are GLBT. I am in the active military and I get a lot of heat for being for gay marriage, but I still speak out about it.

James
[e-mail]

[terrya]

17. Excellent post. Thank you!

And I won't stop fighting for full equality. I'm getting sick and goddamned tired of being treated like a second class citizen.

Yes...it's time.

:thumbsup:

[Brazenly Liberal]

18. As the new party in power, with lots to do, we need to choose our battles carefully.

Full civil liberties, equal rights and protection for all, is a battle always well chosen, always worth fighting. It is the quintessentially American battle - the fight to end oppression. As someone said brilliantly in another thread (I'm sorry I can't remember who said it), rights not equally granted to all are not rights at all - they're privileges.

[Zhade]

21. We're working on it NOW, even if some don't like it.

If they don't, TOO FUCKING BAD.

Ya know?