I wrote the following as a My View op-ed for my local paper, The Tallahassee Democrat. They didn't print it, so I'll post it here.
CROSS POSTED FROM FLAPOLITICS.COM
Recently my wife was out of town visiting her grandkids up in Philadelphia for a couple of weeks, so I’d spend my evenings going out to events and meetings. I would check the calendar in The Democrat (that’s one of the many reasons I have a subscription, as should you and your friends) [this was a shameless plug in the hope of it helping me get printed.] and found something interesting every night of the week.
One evening there was a meeting of the Capital City Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender Democratic Caucus over at the Family Tree Community Center. I have long thought the GLBT caucus was one of the most organized in the Democratic Party.
Of course, when you’re talking about Democrats, that might not be saying much. But, I figured that if I went I might be able to hear their thoughts about how issues like gay marriage might be resolved within the party, a topic I’m interested in.
It turned out that I had misread the notice and that the meeting was an organizational one and people were there to hammer out the nuts and bolts of getting a political group going. I mostly just sat there and listened.
A lot of it was pretty dull, what with the usual talk of bylaw committees and what type of incorporation they would use. But there was also some friendly banter and occasional laughter. When it was over they all gathered for a group photo. They graciously included me and I asked for a link for my Facebook page.
Later that evening I was thinking about the experience and realized how much I just felt really good about all the people present.
First, let me say that I’m not gay or bisexual and, to be honest, when I think about male homosexual sex I get a little queasy (come on, give me a break, I'm 60 years old here). But, I’m sure my kids feel the same way when they think about their mother and me in those terms, and my kids and I still love each other.
Also, I’m not getting all gooey here and holding up homosexuals as being somehow "special" or anything like that. I’m sure if I lived with any of them it would be as hard as it is for any two people to get along.
Rather, what I’m trying to express is just the opposite. That is, given the opportunity to interact with a particular set of homosexuals who I otherwise had a lot in common with (political activism, education, professional background, a sense of responsibility for others), the fact of their homosexuality quickly became irrelevant and I was able to enjoy them all as just people.
Now, in the best of all possible worlds, such a thing would not be remarkable or even noticed. But, unfortunately, that’s not the case in our fear filled times.
The on-line magazine Slate had a wonderful article about the movie Milk and how remarkably topical it is. In 1978 the real life San Francisco city politician it was based on was able to lead a successful statewide campaign to defeat a ballot initiative that called for the mandatory firing of gay teachers in California.
He did it by asking homosexuals to come out. As he so beautifully put it, "If they know us, they don't vote against us."
This is what was wrong with the political efforts to defeat our own Amendment 2, the so-called Marriage Amendment. The Florida Red and Blue campaign tried to promote opposition by saying that it would have unintended consequences for heterosexuals. We all saw how disastrously that approach worked.
Actually, the problem with Amendment 2 was its INTENDED consequences, its desire to spread fear and division among the people of Florida by demonizing homosexuals, purely for political benefit.
But, this time, I think we all learned our 30 year-old lesson that the forward thinking Harvey Milk knew all along. The truth shall set us free.
If you’re interested in being involved in the Capital City GLBT Democratic Caucus here in Tallahassee, just go by the Family Tree Community Center at 310 Blount St, Suite 205, or call 850-222-8555, and they’ll point you in the right direction.
Or you can just join their Facebook group.
If you're not in Tallahassee, then go by the website for the state wide organization. Or join their Facebook group.
Here's the photo from the meeting. I'm the bald guy in the back. If you visit my Facebook site you can see it properly tagged with everyone's name. Just search for Michael Tally Murphree.