"You keep saying things like, "Just because someone is against gay marriage doesn't mean they're a homophobe or a bigot," even though there are no non-bigoted, non-homophobic reasons to oppose marriage equality.
You say that equality for LGBT citizens is an "issue" that needs to take its place on the list of progressive causes, and not a fundamental civil right that is the very foundation and bedrock of our entire constitutional system: equality under the law.
You say we're too angry and it's not an effective strategy, completely missing that we're not strategizing; we're really this angry -- even me, a 49 year old lesbian who lives in San Francisco and has a good job. I'm so furious I often can't sleep, can't eat, and sometimes I shake with rage.
You keep telling us we need to reach out and build bridges to the religious right. Do you really think there is any point at all in telling us we need to reach out to homophobes and bigots, to the people who run the churches that abuse our youth and shove us out the doors, that have brainwashed our parents into rejecting us, that tell us they "love" us while they knife us in the hearts with their laws?
Why don't you tell them to reach out to us? We're the ones who have been wronged and harmed, disenfranchised, electro-shocked, had our kids taken away in ugly custody battles, lost our homes when our partner died, been thrown out of the hospital rooms of our lovers, had wills overturned and benefits denied. We're the ones who had our equality thrown up for a popular vote, and whose rights are denied us in the constitutions of 29 states. Telling us to reach out to them is like saying battered women need to reach out to their abusers, or children to the priest who molested them."
--Christie Keith on being told to quiet down about Rick Warren's inauguration appearance
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4 Comments
Christie Keith has a point ...
... and put that way, Yes, of course we have reason to be damned angry. I feel her when she shakes with rage. I wanna hold her.
However, raging against people's religious convictions (however ludicrous, hypocritical, or heterocentrically geared) is not the answer. Education is.
Warren was a wealth of mis-information and outright lies, using his position to poison minds against us. Now that Obama has thrust his blatant bigotry under the spotlight, he's backpedaled and attempted to scrub all that crap from the web. It hasn't changed the man, but at least he knows his rhetoric won't hold up to scrutiny. A puny victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Over at Good As You.org, someone is calling Melissa Etheridge an "elitist" because she met with Warren and wants to build bridges.
Elitist? Sound familiar? What is this a McCain rally? I always thought our Out and Proud celebs fell into the cool category. But let them have a dissenting opinion, I guess, and out come the effigies and the bon-fires with piles of her CDs. Come to My Window my a$$.
Get a grip people. We're eating our own.
Using CRUSADE tactics will only lead where those tactics always lead, tit for tat destruction for the foreseeable future. And in this case, they're already winning -- they've accomplished the dividing with the ease of a hot knife through butter.
We voted for something new. We voted to try something different. YES WE CAN yell and scream and burn fat effigies of Warren. We can even be cleverly offensive by using photoshop to superimpose his, well, you get the point. None of those things will acheive a conciliatory result.
It's time to educate. We have got to approach this issue from directions we've never tried before. Some wars can not be won with a barrage of artillary or vitriol or rioting in the streets.
Sometimes, the best thing is to invite the enemy for tea.
Taylor Siluwé | December 23, 2008 11:40 AM
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They should reach out but won't or can't. That's the reality that needs to be dealt with. It's completely unfair and totally sucks.
Eventually. Slowly. Finally. People can be educated. But only if you address them on their terms and with love and compassion. Reason and logic in the abstract are never going to be nearly so powerful as empathy.
colin | December 23, 2008 1:45 PM
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If the Supreme Court fails us, Proposition 8 should be revisited in five years time. Why? Because a significant portion of the electorate who voted yes in 2008 will be dead.
There is no need for education or reaching out. This is simply a waiting game, and we're going to win it.
DanB | December 24, 2008 3:12 AM
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Beautifully put. I'm so tired of these sissified gays who keep licking the hands of our abusers. It's disgusting and embarrassing to the rest of us.
This is one of the best posts I've read and reflects my own reaction when I am told to sit down and shut up or to "reach out" to the Religious Right as though they are perfectly justified and it is up to me to make amends for their crazy beliefs.
You're absolutely right. We've never harmed them and they have made it their life's work to harm us. I'm sick of being told that I should be the one to apologize to them and make nice with my abuser.
Buck | January 12, 2009 8:20 AM
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