On the Record
My ex-lover, Torie Osborn, whom I
mentored, criticized me for saying "shame" on her ex-lover, Ellen Malcolm of
Emily's List, for supporting a South Carolina candidate who says she favors an
anti-gay amendment to the Constitution. Torie said, "There is a childish
pleasure that one takes in pointing out personal contradictions, but (they're)
ill timed and petty."
Well then, shame on Torie. Asking
multi-millionaire, influential lesbians and gays in our community to NOT support
those who oppose our civil rights is hardly "childish."
We have demanded
nothing from them -- not giving money to our enemies is the least they can do.
Emily's list should have sat this one out. Malcolm's support of a
candidate who favors the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment is not merely a
"personal contradiction," it is acquiescing the right wing's central campaign
against the LGBT community, the prohibition of our equal marriage rights, and
with it, our claim to equal citizenship in this country.
When Torie
Osborn dismisses a civil rights issues such as equal marriage rights for
lesbians and gays as "petty," it is an insult to our entire community. For
her to dismiss pro-equal marriage rights demands as "ill timed," the day after
California annulled the marriages of 4,000 plus lesbian and gay couples
(including hers), it is a further insult to our community.
The Federal
Marriage Amendment is about more then just equal marriage rights. It
battle is about whether or not LGBT people will or will not be official second
class citizens in this country. It is long past time that we demanded
accountability from both our leaders, AND politicians of both
parties.
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