It's official. We we be among the
gay families at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday. We picked up our tickets this morning, which is when we also learned just how the White House plans to handle it, contrary to what's been reported about their reaction.
The White House indicated it did not plan to make an issue of gay and lesbian families at the event.
The Bush White House plans to keep us as far away from the Bush family as possible. For starters, Dubya will be as far away as he can get.
But the President's schedule gives a hint: For much of the morning, the President will be in Sterling, Va., touring Europa Stone Distributors, Inc., and holding a "Roundtable on Taxes and the Economy." That promises to be a staid respite from what could be a raucous day back home.
And while Laura is hosting the event, it's not likely we'll see her either. We found out this morning that all of our tickets, even the ones for those who'd been waiting in line since Friday afternoon, are not for the start of the event at 8:00 a.m. Our tickets are for noon.
My guess is that the White House simply reserved the morning tickets for handpicked families more representative of their base. After all, it's typical for the Bush White House to prop the president up in front of hand-picked audiences, rather than expose him to people and ideas that don't conform with his ideology. As usual, the Bush White House is afraid of ordinary Americans; afraid of a group of queers and a bunch of kids.
Of course, the White House is in a kind of Catch-22. No matter how much they'd like to, they can't cancel the event or keep our families out. The media has the story now and either move would show the Bush White House in a negative light. On the other hand, despite claims of keeping the event "open to all," they can't welcome our families without pissing off their base.
But there are some positive points here. First, I don't think the Bush White House can effectively take the media spotlight off of us with a mere time switch. The story's been everywhere. As we were leaving the playground where we picked up our tickets, in order to take Parker on a promised trip to get some ice cream, a media van showed up. Since we volunteered to be one of the families to speak to the media, we hung around for a few more minutes and got interviewed. So, we may be turn up on D.C.'s channel 4 during the evening news.
Chances are there will be media there no matter what time our tickets are for (the reporter asked me what I thought of the time switch for our tickets), because our families showing up for a White House event under this administration is news. The Bush administration's anti-gay policies and posturing make it impossible for it not to be news. The president has continually used his "bully pulpit" to invoke distortions about our families, in the name of discrimination. And, though our presence at the egg roll doesn't even begin to qualify as equal time, that's also what makes it important for our families to be visible.
"We're not protesting the president's policies on gay families," Jennifer Chrisler, the executive director of the Family Pride Coalition, the organizer of those attending, told the New York Times. "We are, however, helping him understand that gay families exist in this country and deserve the rights and protections that all families need." "I don't think this is a protest," Chrisler, told the Associated Press. "Showing up, participating fully in an American tradition, showing Americans that we do exist, that in our minds isn't a protest." … "The message is that gay and lesbian families are everywhere in this country," said Chrisler. “We care about the same things that all parents care about: providing our children with every opportunity and every experience possible."
At least some people will see us for the families we are, doing what any other families do. As I told the reporter, it's easy for people to have misconceptions about our families, so any chance that we have to be visible as families helps make the world a better and safer place for our children.
In all this it's easy to forget one other positive. The fact that the White House couldn't cancel the event or keep our families out, without getting egg on its face, suggests that things are shifting in America, because it's assumed there would be some negative reaction from a portion of the American public, a significant portion perhaps. And, if there has been a subtle shift it's because we've been visible as families in our communities, all over the country.
It's easier for people demonize what they don't see, and harder for them hate good neighbors who take good care of their kids and try to give back to their community like everyone else. It's harder to stereotype the gay dad who's sitting next to you at the little league game, cheering on your kid as much as his own, or the lesbian mom who pitches in for the P.T.A. bakesale. It's harder to hate people and discriminate against them when you see with your own eyes that they are people, just like you. It is if you have a heart, anyway.
Come Monday, we won't be doing anything that we haven't always done in our own back yards. the only difference is that we'll be with other families like ours, and on America's front lawn. And if America's watching, and maybe few moreshed their misconceptions and begin to see us as neighbors and as American families an awful lot like theirs, it will make a difference.
And that makes it worthwhile. What parent wouldn't undertake something that could make the world a better and safer place for their kids? As parents ourselves, we can't possibly do any less.
From the Republic of T.
Update: We were on TV! We were one of the top three stories on NBC4 at 6pm. I have it on Tivo, but I'll have to figure out how to get the video from Tivo to my computer.
The report claims that the White House says the early tickets were given to "volunteers" and thus there was no attempt to keep gay families out of the opening.
Bull. There are tens of thousands of tickets for this event, which starts as 8:00 a.m. So, there would have to be several thousands of volunteers to take up four hours worth of tickets. That explanation only works if you just don't do the math. (Of course, lots of people won't.)
Bottom line: the White House is scared to death of a bunch of families and their kids.