Me & the Gays

I will never forget the experience of taking my kids to the PrideFest in Colorado Springs one year when they were little. Decked out in rainbow colors, we watched the parade and cheered as some lesbian friends passed by, we enjoyed some festival foods, and we perused the market area for information and finds. I came away with a sticker bearing the equal sign and the word "rights" on a Colorado license tag-looking background, but the kids were the big winners, as it should be.

One of the booths, situated under the shade trees of the downtown park, was advertising for a gay travel agency out of Denver. There was some game of chance that I do not recall, but both kids ended up "winning" gay rubber duckies, or "queer ducks" as they were referred to, punningly. They were so cute and for some reason we took to calling them the "uncle ducks".

But all the fun and frolic in the park was only the precursor to what was about to take place in the small band shell at the edge of the festivities. I took the kids to the top of an adjoining play structure so that they could have a bird's eye view, far above the heads of a very large crowd.

Once the announcer began, I instructed the kids to be quiet, but to watch the stage. One couple after another, in some of the most lovely garments you can imagine, took to the stage, stood facing each other, and expressed their love and affection. They were certainly vows, and though the state would never recognize them as such that did not seem to have any bearing on the commitment on full display nor on the mood of the onlookers. Standing atop that slide platform we watched as scores of people took their own version of "the plunge".

With both of my hands in theirs I couldn't do anything to adjust my appearance which led the kids to ask why Mommy was crying. As I recall I told them because this was quite possibly the most important day in some of those peoples' lives and that we'd been lucky enough to see it. But it was the fact I knew in my heart that really brought the tears: There were so many barriers put up, so many hurdles for these couples to negotiate just to get something that had no official sanction. When my husband and I got married, the only hurdles were the mandatory counseling session with the minister and the $10 marriage license fee. No blood test, no waiting for society to catch up to our plans, no outrage at the simple fact that we were in love. To this day, those were the only "weddings" at which I've ever cried.

President Obama took a big step this week toward bringing us together as a nation and provided his leadership through cultivating empathy. Everyone should be able to agree on celebrating love between people no matter who they happen to be. Our friends on the Right speak in such impassioned voices of Freedom and Liberty; I cannot see where being forced to hide your feelings to keep a job or a faith or a friend figures into those lofty ideals. Let everyone be free to pursue their happiness.

Like that day in the park so many years ago, I will never forget Wednesday either. I will always be able to recall the pride I felt in the courage of a President standing up for principle and Civil Rights...and setting aside politics for one shining moment.

I hope his statement leads to action worthy of a citizenry who are ready to put one more old prejudice aside, and that action would be to legalize Marriage Equality. In the days when you had to be 21 to drink anything alcoholic the joke was, "You can go to war and die for your country, you can get married and screw your life up real good, but you can't buy a beer!" As we could say now, "You can buy a beer and fight for your country, but you can't get married!" That's much worse and certainly no laughing matter. The next day I want to always remember is the day when our LGBT brothers and sisters are free to marry. I think it's coming soon, though never soon enough.

Every signal we send--especially to kids--is magnified in their hearts and minds. If we tell the prejudiced that hating is wrong, perhaps we can end the bullying of LGBT children. If we tell those bullied children that they are a viable and are an equal part of society with nothing to hide, maybe we could stop the suicides and the pain.

And maybe one day all the "uncles", "aunts", "friends"and "partners" who wish to be known by some other title, say "husband", "wife", "Mom" or "Dad", can feel free to call themselves just that...legally. "Daddy Ducks" sounds so much nicer, doesn't it?

Chapter and Verse

The writing is going swimmingly at the moment. A good chapter today which may well be expanded into two or three in the coming days.
Ideas abound, school is almost out, and the sunlight is playing in aspen leaves now rather than being caught up in the branches.
I suppose we are becoming more free.

Now if I could just do something about this manic insomnia that comes with creation...Times like these it's a damn shame I do not drink. Or do drugs.

And I call myself a writer. Geez!

I'm In With the Out Crowd

It has finally dawned on me, after a half-century of being a Democrat, that WE are not the outsiders, we've just allowed ourselves to be labeled as such. If your party is the one advocating for the rights of all families to be equal, of all workers to be treated fairly, of all persons no matter their beliefs to be heard, of all gender identifications to serve, of a cleaner environment, and of the existence of a Middle Class, then you should be the ones demanding the return of your country.

But we're too nice. Oh, okay, W. Sure, you loosened the pickle jar for eight years. It's not like that President guy did anything but slip off the little Bin Laden lid. And yes, we aren't always as quick as a Rachel Maddow on a Sunday show to correct "inaccuracies" or, what lesser-evolved beings might refer to as M'Fing Lies: We don't say such things. We don't pull our National Convention out of a state where they are about to move BACKWARD on family rights, about to regress away the tiny gains that had been made. No, we just suggest that the hate-mongering preacher in NC might wanna have a look at "American Beauty" so he can see how the whole "beat the crap outta your gay kid" thing works out.

We are the donkeys, but we aren't the jackasses. Sorry elephants--see how I had to say "sorry"--but that would be you guys. Yes, there are some simple differences in opinion and in policy between reasonable people...thank goodness for that. But when killing Bin Laden is bad and beating kids is good--well, you lost me there.

I remember during the Decade of Bullying when I was young, that bullies are people who spread rumors and tell falsehoods, they push you around and call you names, they isolate you by your differences from them. Sound pachedermy yet? Rove, rove, rove your boat-load of lies: "Forward" means Marxist (except when both Bushes used it) and Healthcare For Most is evil (unless The Heritage Foundation is cool with it). And speaking of boats...we didn't stand up in 2004 and look what happened. This is THAT kind of election, I fear. Should President be up by 30 points? Of course. But these folks have a history of stealing elections; CLOSE ONES make their nefarious jobs easier. Then there's the suppression...and ALEC...and the poorly-named Citizens United.

I was loathe to call a lot of this racism four years ago. I knew some would be, some always is. And we sure saw a ton of that in the August 2009 town halls! But the more we Democrats are painted as the infidels, the more I wonder just where does the fear and anger come from? Changing demographics? Outmoded industries? The Occupy Movement?

Whether the Republicans are worried that they showed up at the wrong ballpark after the game had already been played or not, one thing is as clear as the glass keeping things briny in that pickle jar:
You gotta really hate a black man to knock the death of Bin Laden!