Dear Anti-Gay Legislation Supporter,
I am a lesbian. I am a citizen of the United States. Yesterday, you chose to pass 4 measures which severely limit the rights of me and my friends based solely on the people we love. In California, Florida, and Arizona, you passed propositions which make marriage unavailable to gay and lesbian citizens. In Arkansas, you passed a measure which would make me and my partner of 4 years adopting children in need of a home illegal. While it may be easy for you to vote for such things, I think it is important for you to understand just what effect your vote has.
The discrimination in my life began early, and continues each day. From the time when I was told to go to the boys bathroom as an 8 year old, to the time when I was 23 and was refused service for looking too masculine in South Dakota, to my constant wondering now about how much to disclose about my personal life in job interviews, I am tired of living in a world where it is perfectly acceptable to treat people as second class citizens.
Today, I have had to take numerous breaks to the bathroom in order to cry privately before returning to study. I have had to come to grips with the fact that a democracy in which I believe so strongly chose to legislate hate. You may think that your actions have little effect on actual people, but there are millions of people just like me for whom your decisions matter greatly. While you may not realize it, we are your neighbors, your teachers, your government officials, your friends, and your family. You think you don't know us, but people like me reside everywhere and I will no longer allow myself to live in a world where such overt hatred is allowed to prosper.
Perhaps most disheartening, anti-gay legislation supporter, is who you are. In California, nearly a quarter of you are women. Another quarter of you have at least a bachelor's degree. Of the African-Americans polled, seventy percent of you voted for discrimination. Nearly thirty percent of you identify as a democrat or independent. You had the chance to help eradicate hate in your state, yet you chose to support a measure which only solidified discrimination.
So, anti-gay legislation supporter, you can go fuck yourself. While I am overwhelmingly sad over the decision you've made, I will no longer allow you to disguise discrimination as sound public policy. Change is seeping from everything I see in this post-Bush society, and today is the day that your backwards and offensive views are no longer allowed to prosper.
I encourage and welcome the support of others in this enormous task, even those who previously voted for such measures. Hate should not be a legislated value, and I look forward to fighting against that notion until everyone in the United States is truly equal.
Sincerely,
ChangeAgent
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9 comments:
We will get there......YES WE CAN.
We shall overcome.
i voted no on 8 because people that are important to me will be hurt from it passing. the ick factor is reality for many people and im sorry this is a part of the reality right now. one problem i do have with the people bringing up the statement " a second class citizen " is that there are many situations of society justifying a defenseless group as second or lower class. felons, drug addicts, homeless, hookers, sex offenders, dead beat dads, etc. i know your hurting very much right now but you have to keep a balance. its like how everyone is nice on christmas but a few days later people go back to not giving a sh*t. at school today a teacher asked us to speak about if we have now overcome racism in america now that a black man is pres? my responce was basically of course not but i do think that we are on the verge of the final showdown and moving on. i believe during this pres term the nation will process and address the history of its racism., it will open new doors to those that havent had access, it will affect the glass ceiling. i think these next 20 years are going to progress very rapidly forward through our personal issues with each other. racism will be overcame the day we no longer bring it up. ask your self what would it take for you to do something violent to someone else for any reason? yesterday i tried to put a balance between what directly affects me and what is better for the bigger picture i live in. the thing i hate about debate class is that who ever is the fancy talker wins, not what is better. we as a people need to choose what is better instead of who is the fancy talker. this includes defending the defenseless even when you dont like things they have done. my email is bbqking27 at yaho
"Everything will be OK in the end. If it is not OK, it is not the end."
- unknown
It's simply not over yet...I am trying to keep a broader view of this point in history. Let us not allow those who abuse their power to hate and discriminate to define us, or our history...
I'm going to link to this - and I'm totally with you. We need to call people out on this shit. It's fucking unacceptable.
It feels much like 2004 when Bush was re-elected and I felt like I just couldn't take another day in a place where that kind of shit is acceptable. Who are you people??!! Yesterday I looked around at my co-workers and my friends and my relatives and I wondered how many of them were so insecure and ignorant to have chosen this path. Then I had to try and explain it all to my daughter, without swearing, and it was really hard. The analogy I used was, what if someone was mean to you because you have blue eyes, something over which she has no control and something completely unrelated to who she is as a person. She agreed it was unfair and stupid. And she's only FOUR!! I want her to grow up in a place where you can be anything you want to be and not live in fear. And if I give up and run away to another country haven't I just inadvertantly supported the bigoted ignormaouses by taking away my vote for equality? So I stay and I hope and I cry for my fellow persecuted humans and try to have faith that, this too, will resolve itself.
I *will* call people out on this.
I found myself walking through the hallways at work, looking at every co-worker I passed, mentally asking, "did you vote against my life"?
Let’s fight back on Proposition 8. Let’s boycott California wines, produce and travel. Let’s publicize it. Let’s embarrass them. It worked a few years ago in Colorado. What do say?
You. Funny till the end, even when your sad. Some of us have truly given up the fight. I am tired of fighting. Though, I would have made you proud on election day. I may be tired of fighting but I did the only thing I knew to do to take a step in the right direction. Now lets see what he is going to do. I hope I don't have to say I told you so.
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