Category: Opinion

Protesting True Ugliness

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

I woke up this morning to find an email on Facebook regarding an action here in Chicago. Fred Phelps was in town to protest the Center on Halstead, and local LGBT activists were organizing to show our strength in numbers. The sign-making was already under way by the time I read my email, so I decided to get down to the Center in time for the protest.

We all kind of waited around for a while, and I ended up making awkward small talk with strangers. The organizers weren’t entirely certain whether or not Phelps was actually going to show up. Regardless, they decided we were going to make a show of force, sending a message to Phelps and the world that hate isn’t welcome here.

We all filed outside to stand infront of the building. Because it was pretty cold out, we walked in a loop in the sidewalk infront of the Center, many of us holding signs or rainbow flags, chanting alternately “Hey hey! Ho ho! Homophobia’s got to go!”, or “Gay! Straight! Black! White! Marriage is a civil right!, or “Gay! Straight! Black! White! Same struggle, same fight!”

Eventually, someone spotted the Phelps clan in front of the police station down the street, so people strated moving towards them. No one was sure where we were going until we got there. There were at least 200 of us, and there couldn’t have been more than four of them in the Phelps group. I was standing towards the back of the crowd, and I could hardly see them. But I couldn’t mistake their signs: something ugly about “Fags”, and a picture of Obama with horns with the word “antichrist.” One of them was holding a very young child who looked terrified.

They were clearly intimidated. I almost felt bad for them. People in the crowd were really angry, and I think the message was conveyed: Hate is not welcome here.

My fear about this action is that there were many in the crowd who have as much hate in their hearts as Fred Phelps does. As I watched the goings on (and yes, I was glad to see them retreat), what kept running through my mind and heart is “God loves everyone.” I hope that my LGBT brothers and sisters, while they express their anger and their pain at the acts of hate perpetrated by Phelps and his ilk, can find enough room in their hearts to love, forgive, and feel compassion for these most misguided people.

Passive Resistance: Buy Nothing Day

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

Each year the tradition of International Buy Nothing Day seems to grow, and this year is no exception. Unfortunately, more attention to this movement may be greater this year because of the growing economic crisis. While it is difficult not to get caught up in the anxiety inducing news reports of the growing likelihood of us entering a depression, much less a recession, I think that this may be a good thing, an opportunity for more people to realize that our capitalist consumer economy as it exists now is not sustainable, and perhaps people will be more apt to change their ways. Buy Nothing Day is one of the trends growing in popularity that shows that people may indeed be looking for healthier economic alternatives.

When I hear news about a Wal-Mart employee getting trampled on Black Friday, or Evangelical Christians laying hands on the Wall Street Bull in a misguided and idolotrous petition to God to save our economy, I have to wonder how things got to these insane extremes.

As part of the movement towards building a more sustainable, environmentally friendly, and spiritually healthy economy, people around the world reclaiming Black Friday as International Buy Nothing Day. Last year, instead of drawing names and exchanging gifts, my family agreed to draw names and give gifts to charity in each other’s honor. And we are not alone.

Here are some of the many resources availble to support the International Buy Nothing Day movement (these may or may not be directly related to BND, but they are all in the same spirit):

After today’s tragic news about the Wal-Mart employee getting trampled, and the fact that people are still swarming at the malls, it is clear that people are slow to learn and we still have a long way to go. However, the growth each year of the BND tradition gives me hope that people can indeed change their ways.

Protesting Proposition 8 – It’s All About Love

On By SarahIn Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

Today, protests will be happening around the country. LGBT folks everywhere are speaking out for marriage eqality. When I stop to think about it, I get chills thinking that Gillian and I were there and witnessed the spark that set all of this off.  Though we’re no longer residents of California, I’m so glad that we can march in solidarity here in Chicago today, and perhaps even bring the movement for marriage equality here with a stronger presence.

For more information about rallies happening around the country, please visit this site.

I will be among many other livebloggers from around the country, and you can follow our tweets here. Also, you can find some video covereage of the action in San Francisco here.

Peace everyone! Let’s remember that this is all about love!

Eyes on the Prize

On By SarahIn Opinion, Politics6 Comments

I want to write some words of encouragement to my friends in California and across the world who experienced, like me, the very personal defeat of the passage of Proposition 8 last week. While I am disappointed in this result, I remain encouraged in the overarching victory of the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. While we may have lost some battles that night, including Prop 8, Obama’s election bodes well for LGBT folks. Let’s take the long-term view.

Prop 8 succeeded in large part because of the final ugly push by the pro Prop 8 bigots that preyed on people’s basest fears and prejudices. The Prop 8 folks organized a last-minute effort of robocalls aimed primarily at African Americans and some Democrats who they knew would be supporting Barack Obama. I received one of these calls on Election Night on my cell phone which has a 415 area code (they must not have had in their notes that my wife and I were the second couple married at San Francisco City Hall in 2004). The calls featured an audio quote from Barack Obama where, in his own voice, he says that marriage is between one man and one woman, followed by another voice urging voters to vote yes on Prop 8.

Obama did not give permission for them to use his quote for this purpose, and he adamantly opposed Prop 8.  In response to the robocalls last week, Obama issued this statement:

As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law…And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states. For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It’s time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.

When has any other candidate seeking the Office of the President came out with an unequivocally supportive statement of gay rights like this? And for the first time in history, a President Elect said the word “gay” out loud in his acceptance speech.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It is a new day, and I am ever hopeful that we will have equal rights one day soon.

Life and Choice

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, Politics, SpiritualityLeave a comment

“Pro-life” and “pro-choice” are not mutually exclusive terms. Indeed, I claim to be both.

I am pro-life. I value all living things that the Creator has blessed us with. I embrace my responsibility as a human being to steward the Earth and its resources.

I am pro-choice. I believe that women should have the right to privately make decisions about their reproductive health with her doctor and her loved ones.

Right-wing Christians who call themselves “values voters” don’t have the lock on moral issues that they claim. My moral compass informs my politics and the way that I vote. I support candidates and policies that I believe will build a just society.

  • I support family values, where every child is a wanted child, no person fears violence in their own home, and where any loving marriage between two consenting adults is honored and respected.
  • I support environmental conservation and policies that make sustainable day-to-day living practices possible for more people.
  • I support fairness and economic justice for everyone.
  • I believe that healthcare is a right.
  • I support public education.
  • I support working for peace with justice, and working towards building a non-violent society whether it is combating gun-violence in urban neighborhoods or finding diplomatic solutions to international conflicts.
  • I support the abolition of the death penalty.

As articulated by the Matthew 25 Network, I support “life with dignity, caring for the least of these, supporting families, stewardship of God’s creation, working for peace and justice at home and abroad, and promoting the common good.”

Perhaps I have a broader definition of what being “pro-life” means than how it is used in popular discourse. In the same way that I am reclaiming my religious faith, I want to reclaim what it means to be pro-life. I want all children to be born into a sustainable peaceful world where they have access to the food and healthcare they need, the education that they deserve, peaceful parks and clean air in their cities and towns, diverse communities where they can learn about and respect different cultures and traditions, and freedom to make decisions about their personal lives. I want all people to be able be who they are and to live without fear for doing so.

These are the Pro-Life values that I embrace.