The level of acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships in this nation, and even here in this traditionally conservative state of Florida, has increased dramatically just in the last ten years. But the passage of Florida Proposition 2 yesterday is a cold, suffocating reminder that the old prejudices are still alive. My joy and pride in the victory of President-Elect Barack Obama have been lamentably diminished by the news that the majority of my fellow Floridians believe it necessary to insert into the state constitution discrimination aimed at my loving relationship.
Do I take this personally? Yes. Of course. I am a gay woman who has been living for 10 years with my partner. We are committed to our relationship. We are a family. We pay our taxes. We work and play and contribute to our state financially. We support our local businesses with our earnings. We pay the same level and number of taxes as any other Floridian in our economic bracket. Yet we have just been told that we are CONSTITUTIONALLY uninvited to share in one of the most fundamental relationships entered into by human beings.
They are afraid. I am disenfranchised and discounted. No one wins in this. But they are right to be afraid. I am still here. And I am damn mad.
In the Washington Post today is a chilling column by Dana Milbank. Although astute followers of this election season are already aware of the covert racism and hatred that is encoded in the speeches of John McCain and Sarah Palin, in Clearwater, I’m sorry to say, the true bigotry of the McCain/Palin campaign and its supporters reared its ugly head. From the Milbank column:
… Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, “Sit down, boy.”
and
The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of “Palin Power” and “Sarahcuda” T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. “One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” she said. (”Boooo!” said the crowd.) “And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,’ ” she continued. (”Boooo!” the crowd repeated.)
“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.
Palin is no real hockey mom anymore. But she is a pit bull. One who was not raised well to work with others. The cocktail waitress winks and the coy, suggestive head tilting from someone who seeks the second highest office in our nation has been embarassing to me as a woman. But the cold, calculating attacks and innuendoed affirmation for bigotry and hatred that she is spilling forth is purely chilling.
Not only will she not speak to the press or release her records, now the press is not even allowed to ask questions of Palin’s supporters at a rally? In Florida?
When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn’t allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written. The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday.
What the hell are they trying to hide?
Mildred Loving died today. She was 68.
Her name may not mean much to many, until it is mentioned in the context of one of the most profound Supreme Court decisions of our time: Loving v Virginia. This landmark case literally changed the complexion of marriage laws in the United States, and imposed limits on the states’ rights to unduly discriminate against its citizens.
The courage of Richard and Mildred Loving to place their love above the antiquated laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia should embolden each and every one of us to fight discrimination every day. Their actions stand in stark contrast to the efforts of so many today to infuse discrimination against a particular group into our Constitution.
Remember in November, Florida. Vote No on 2.
An area family is finding out the hard way that the Republican party has a bit of trouble with people telling their own stories. The Frost family was the first to receive a volley of fire from the GOP for their own personal story on the value of SCHIP. Now a St. Petersburg area family is steeling themselves against a similar attack.
The Boehners, whose daughter was born with a heart valve defect, relied on the SCHIP program for financial assistance with the surgery necessary to save their child’s life. They told their story to Congress. They told their story in an ad for support for the measure. Now that ad is being decried as a “despicable ad that exploits a two-year-old girl with a serious heart ailment.” Telling one’s own truth about how one has benefited from a disputed insurance program is exploitation? Since when? If the persons who have actually benefited from the program in question can’t validly relate that benefit, then who exactly can?
Will Matthews, a spokesman for USAction in Washington, defended his group’s decision to characterize Boehner’s comments as an attack on the family.
“We see it as here’s a little girl who relies on SCHIP … and the Republicans can’t get past the political imagery to see the real story,” Matthews said.
I disagree, Mr. Matthews. The Republicans are well able to get past the political imagery. They are embarassed at being blindsided by honest, personal stories. They attack rather than address the issue at hand — the value of the program.
Family values? More like political expediency.
…but Cathy James was a warrior on the front lines.
I came across this amazing first hand report of the “Family Impact Summit” (from the inside) and was overjoyed at the chutzpah and fortitude of Cathy James, who not only took on the anti-gay panel but whooped their debateless butts. She spoke out for me and countless others with her words of clarity in the midst of the fog of bigotry.
Cathy, you are my new hero.
As promised last night, I’m posting some of the pictures I took at the protest of the “Family Impact Summit”. (See after jump) A group of sixty or so were there to stand against the harmful witness of bigotry. I will admit that I expected something different, some confrontation, I suppose. That didn’t happen. A church member approached me to see if I needed water as I snapped pictures. I thanked her and told her I had my own. No confrontation, except in ideology and worldview and basic belief system.
Speakers covered the gamut of subjects from the harm done by the bullying young, impressionable gay and lesbian youth encounter, to the moral responsibility of those who, although doing what they may believe to be truly correct, incite violence against gays and lesbians with their anti-gay sermons and speeches. Winding up the protest with thanks for the many words put forth by the panel of speakers, Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida presented this caveat: “We must take with us the very clear image of who is harmed by the consequences, intended or unintended, of what happens here, of what gets preached here. Their young people rocked the neighborhood with a christian band on the steps of Bell Shoals Baptist Church, beneath the heady imagery of a large American flag. We held hands next to the street and sang “This Little Light of Mine.”
All in all, I doubt anyone’s mind was changed. I’m not even sure that was the point. Alternative voices being heard. Drawing a line in the sand of marginalization. Facing down the threat that looms from the dissemination of misinformation. Those, I believe, were the points. And those points were made.
Continue reading ‘Photos from Hillsborough protest’
The protest went off, was (I think) successful. It got the message across that the g/l/b/t community — as well as our friends and families — are serious about our rights, serious about our freedoms, and serious about our faiths. We also put across the statement that we are serious about not letting others define us, defile us, or marginalize us.
I hope to have more tomorrow evening, but it’s been a long, long day… and I was caught out in the torrential downpour. I will post a few pictures from the protest later, as well.
Just a reminder to all who may (or should) be interested in supporting equality and fairness in Florida:
The show of strength for progressive thought against what is being mis-labeled the “Family Impact Summit” in Hillsborough County will begin on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. A press conference will be held by at 4:00 p.m., followed by a peaceful, non-confrontational vigil. As well, a short protest training session will be conducted at 3:00, prior to the press conference, for all who would like to have some pointers. The protest training meeting will be at St. Mark’s UCC (2914 Lithia Pinecrest Road, Valrico) starting at 3:00. The press conference and protest begin at 4:00 in front of Bell Shoals Baptist Church (2102 Bell Shoals Road, Brandon).
Let’s get the numbers out there, free-thinkers! Tomorrow is the day to hold up a mirror of freedom and tolerance to the face of bigotry and hatred. Let them see our solidarity and our committment. From the original notice:
A “who’s who” of the national anti-gay industry (see below) will descend on the Tampa Bay community with the help of Bell Shoals Church in Brandon, the same church that launched an all out assault on Hillsborough Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) last year.
…
To successfully convey the community’s outrage we will need a big turnout. So, we are asking you to attend and to also BRING FIVE FRIENDS.
Click HERE for latest information from Equality Florida on this urgent event.
