What She Said

I did not attend the rally in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and I am aware that many dismissed the gathering (including the White House). And to those who wonder why gay marriage is so important, who wonder why Don't Ask Don't Tell is offensive, who think that gay people should just shut up already because it's not that big a deal to have a cake and two matching rings, here is a response by (of all things) an actress, Ms. Cynthia Nixon. I couldn't have said it best myself:

"Our right to marry is of paramount importance ,whether you as an individual gay person listening to me right now, want to get married now or ever. It is important because when a country has different laws for different categories of people, it sends its population a message. That the different group of people with lesser rights are somehow inferior, and less deserving of respect, and in fact, not wholly human. And that message is heard loud and clear by the worst elements of our society. It instructs them that if they are looking for someone to bully or beat or even kill, if they are looking for someone vulnerable to pray upon, gay people are a ready target.

"And that is why this movement is not just about our ability to get married, it's not just about our ability to have a party, it's not even about our ability to stand publicly and announce our love to the person we want to spend the rest of our life with. It's about demanding equal rights, equal responsibilities, equal opportunities, equal treatment, and equal protection under the law so that we can herald in a day when no parent will ever have to endure what our next speaker has endured. ladies and gentlemen, Judy Shepherd [the mother of Matthew Shepherd]."

If our government separates its citizens in terms of the law, they are making a statement about the people it has divided. It singles those out and, whether intentional or unintentional, labels them unworthy, undesirable, and un-American. I'm tired of being told I'm a political eyesore, that I'm not worth a mention from a fearful President, that I'm not good enough to serve my country, that I'm the target of redneck police departments that want to have some fun at my expense....I have been told all my life from others that I am nothing but a sissy worthless faggot whose only value is being a punching bag, an object of ridicule, an object of hate in the name of Jesus Christ. I have had it up to goddamn here.

I am a tax paying, law abiding, contributing member of the United States of America. And I refuse to be told I'm less than any longer.