Yes, it's yet another diary about the nightmare in Maine. I know that there are several, but I feel the need to vent. I am thrilled to see the results in Kalamazoo and the hope still for Washington state (not to mention the Heisman hand to the Palin-picked candidate in New York), but the truth is that we LGBT people are still fighting to be allowed to ride in the back of the bus.
I can't understand the results in Maine, anymore than I could last year in California, and I have to ask all those who propose, who sign petitions for, who finance and who vote for these anti-gay hate laws and amendments:
How many marriages have you saved by taking away our rights? How many couples decided to work on their relationships and call off the divorce lawyers because their gay or lesbian neighbors are denied basic protections?
Furthermore, as a consequence of your actions:
How many more children went to bed feeling full and warm instead of hungry, abused, or neglected?
How many men stopped beating their wives?
How many homeless were given a hot meal?
How many sex workers were given the hand up they need to get off the streets?
How many addicts entered rehab?
How many lonely elderly people made a friend and found a reason to live?
How have you made the world better by explicitly valuing my life and my humanity as inherently less than yours?
On the other hand:
How many children have been denied the protection of married parents, just because those parents happen to violate your church's teachings?
How many teenagers, just beginning to understand what makes them different, feel a little lower, a little less worthy, because their parents and religious "leaders" have engaged in spurious and slanderous attacks?
How many people will be denied a say in their partner's health care? How many will be denied the right to attend their funeral, or even know where the grave is?
It is long past the time for every one of you to understand someting. I am a human being, and I have the same value as you. I am a son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a nephew and a friend. I love the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, Jane Austen novels, Coen Brothers movies and long drives by myself. I think automatic transmissions are for sissies and that it is funny when my DC neighbors wear scarfs and gloves when it's 45 degrees outside. I am an individual, and you know nothing about me just by knowing I'm gay.
I have another question for all those who consider themselves straight allies - what are you doing to fully realize the equality of all our citizens? I don't mean in politics or donations or voting trends. I mean, when your family and your friends express their homophobia, their belief that straights are better than gays and that straights have the right to limit our rights and our lives, how do you respond - do you speak up or do you stay silent? When your minister or your bishop rails against the evil "homosexual agenda" or collects donations for hate campaigns, do you refuse to participate or do you walk out?
We are only 5% of the population; we cannot win this fight to have our humanity, our citizenship and our status as full human beings recognized by ourselves. It is time for the "nice people" (as they were called in the seminal film about anti-Semitism, Gentlemen's Agreement) to speak up, to demand that their politicians and religious leaders stop scapegoating innocent LGBT people to gain votes and donations and power. It is time to reject outright the notion that being anti-gay, being in favor of "separate but equal" for fags and dykes, valuing LGBT citizens as less than our straight brothers and sisters are in any way a legitimate political positions. It is long past time to demand that our Constitution protect everyone equally.
I am trying to have hope, but it is damned hard right now.