I wish I could say why it has taken me so long to write a dairy. I have been actively reading DailyKos since the 2002 midterm elections. It was a tough time for democrats and for liberals and kos’ point of view was a true Voice in the Wilderness. He kept me sane. The country was losing its collective mind I found a community of people who not only had not lost their mind, but were making sense, DailyKos was there for me the day after election day 2004 in that dark, dark time. I was here in 2006 when we took back the House and Senate. I was here during the Obama/Edwards/Hillary wars. I was here, and admittedly drifted away a but when diary after diary attacked our President during the health care debacle.
Who am I? I am 40-something guy. I live here in NYC with my partner and two dogs, I have been closely following politics since 1980 when I was ten-years old. I dove in and devoured all news of the Democratic and Republican primaries voraciously. I was a HUGE fan of John Anderson, the liberal Republican who ran as an independent in 1980. In fact, I often think I was part of a visionary 7%. But that aside I have been hooked since then.
I come from a (right-wing Republican) political family and have been working on political campaigns since I was nine. I have made thousands of phone calls, knocked on doors, canvassed on the street and stood in front countless polling places on primary and election days for a very long list of candidates in multiple states. I am always engaged. Most recently, last Spring and Summer I was working hard phone banking for marriage equality here in New York, an amazing victory. It was a victory that brought me to tears. It was overwhelming. Last year I went to a number of neighborhood community board meetings to speak out in favor of supporting the presence of Occupy Wall Street here in downtown Manhattan where I live and work. (I used to live in Harlem)
I wanted to diary here finally to share my reaction the President’s decision yesterday to come out in support of marriage equality. I wrote it last night at 1am. I was still overcome. It offer it as I wrote it on Facebook last night:
Nothing and Everything:
Today, President Obama changed nothing in America. Gays and lesbians are still subhuman, subject to almost no legal rights and protections under the law in three dozen states in this country - most recently North Carolina. No inheritance rights, no benefit rights, no hospital visitations, no right to raise their own children. Not human. Not human. Less than. In the state of Virginia it is easier to leave money to your dog than your life long partner and friend. Our lives and our loves are meaningless throughout this country. The majority says to the minority, gay people, "you are not as good as we are. We are better than you." Those laws remain in place today.
And yet, as the arc of history has been changing as evidenced by the slow crawls of states embracing gay equality. Today's announcement by President Obama, supporting gay marriage and gay dignity profoundly moved me for a big reason.
In the dark years as a gay pre-teen and teen, I was scared and alone. I felt shame and loneliness constantly. There was no one to talk to. But I was lucky. I made it through because I had a family who loved me. But not everyone did. Our government at all levels was hostile to gay people. But today, by supporting gay marriage, the most powerful man in the world, the leader of the free world, said to today's scared gay teens, no different than me, you are OK. You are a good person. You have worth and value. You are a good American. He told them that they are as good as anyone. That's all gay people could have asked of this President.
Tonight I think about all those kids who didn't make it. The ones for whom things got too dark to carry on, who were on too lonely a road to be worth traveling. May God have mercy and love for their souls. I hope they are looking at us today and smiling wherever they are.
President Obama, thank you. Thank you for your courage. Whether or not you are re-elected you have changed America and today you embodied the Hope and Change I dreamed up so many years ago. God Bless You and may God Bless the United States of America.
Thanks for reading
UPDATE: Thank You all SO Much. Your comments and Recs mean a lot.