Wrong about rights!

Hello Americans,

I finally have a reason to write. First, let me congratulate President-Elect Barack Obama. You showed America prejudice can be put to the side given the right message and mediums. That of hope and change. And I cling to these talking points this morning. Because while I smile for a new direction that this country has taken as a whole, I weep for the state I live in. A state of sadness. The state of California.

Though the bell has not tolled, I can hear the first bitter chimes of defeat. California voted YES on Prop 8. Also known as, "proposition hate". And there will be many theories floated around as to why. One being the overwhelming turnout of African-American and Latino voters for Obama who also believe in "traditional" marriage. While this may be in part the reason I feel the true nature of this loss comes from the gay community itself.

This is because "we" did not do everything. While we campaigned near the polls in West Hollywood, we left Pasadena untouched. While we threw vodka parties to raise money, we left doorways in the Inland Empire empty. While we ran spots on Bravo, we neglected time on TNT. While we compared equality to a wedding gone wrong, we forgot the precedent of the civil rights movement set by Dr. Martin Luther King. Separate is never equal.

I for one am not happy on the back of the bus or drinking from a separate fountain. If California Equality had nailed home these comparisons we might have won. But we forgot to fight. When did this happen? Was it the day Milk died? Was it the day ACT UP leaders lost their lives to AIDS? Was it when we found new power in disposable income and lost sight of old campaign ways? I am saddened by where the Gay Movement currently stands. It is stagnant if not backsliding.

I feel the only way to move forward is to follow Barack Obama's words of change. We must change our ideology as outsiders and align our struggle with of other minority groups. We did this in the seventies following the lead of the sexual revolution, Civil Rights and the Woman's Movement. Then of course AIDS killed lives and the hope of equality. But this too must change. We must move forward. So I ask every member of the GLBT community to step outside your gay ghetto and rainbow bubble. Because the fight is not within, but without. And for this reason we must change.