OnLine With Zoe

Call for a Statement from US Consul to Uganda, Matthew Crouch

Matthew Wendall Crouch
US Uganda Consul, Los Angeles
7095 Hollywood Blvd 1260
Los Angeles, CA 90068

Dear Mr. Matthew Crouch,

I am sending this letter as an “open letter,” because I have not been able to contact you privately.  I found your name by googling the Uganda Consulate.  I called the office in Washington DC and they confirmed your posted address and phone.  I mention all of this, as I want to be entirely up front.

I am an LGBT Civil Rights activist.  Along with President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep Tammy Baldwin and Rep Howard Berman in publicly repudiating Uganda’s criminalization of homosexuality and, in particular, the extreme Uganda Bill #18’s call for life in prison or, possibly, death; I am greatly disturbed by this repugnant law, cultural sensibility and vicious oppression of Ugandan gay and lesbian people. 

I would like to know your position, as the Uganda US Consul.  It is important for the public to know your position.  There is so much cause for alarm; your trip to Uganda last summer, your parents (Jan & Paul Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting Network’s participation in advising Uganda on the evils of homosexuality), your religious film production company, GenerX8ion all point to a clear intersection to Uganda and US ministers conferring on homosexual genocide. 

I am not the first person who has tried to contact you.  Michael Petrelis has also written and made inquiry.  Let me open this door widely for you.  I am truly hoping that you speak proudly and publicly against the Ugandan treatment of homosexuals.  I would be proud to stand with you at any of the protests on Feb 19th, 2010 to demonstrate our solidarity with LBGT people around the world.  You may know that Feb 19th has been designated in Uganda as a National Day in support of Uganda Bill #18, called for by Minister Martin Ssempa.  Should you want to call a press conference you would be able to say you are in agreement with President Obama, SOS Clinton and House Resolution 1064, which has more than three dozen sponsors including Representatives Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Barbara Lee.  

We look forward to your statement, as US Consul to Uganda.
I would be honored to post it on my site and distribute as widely as I have this request. 

Sincerely,
Zoe Ann Nicholson
3419 via Lido
Newport Beach, CA 92663
zoe@onlinewithzoe.com

cc  US Uganda Consulate Washington
    Office of the Secretary of State
    Representative Howard Berman
    Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (via Rep Tammy Bladwin)
    Truth Wins Out
    Box Turtle Bulletin
    Petrelis Files.com
    SoulForce

The Hip New Prayer ~ My God Really Likes Me.

I am interested in the Super Bowl this year for the same reasons I have always been interested in the Super Bowl; women. 

I imagine that a lot of men will miss the Tebow commercial all together as they will be peeing out a Coors or hitting their wife for not getting the next one fast enough.  You could read that sentence and think I am a man-hater and you would be so very wrong.  I am a hater of jacked-up violence, gang mentality, testosterone overdoses and entitlement.

If you have been following the story about the Tebow ad you know it is brought to you by Focus on the Family, a right-wing extremist christian fundamentalist evangelical group of people who really want you to think like them – ok behave as they say (not as they do).  Can we stop for a special 30 seconds and wonder where this 2.4 million came from?  Is it from seniors sending in 20% of their social security?  Someone paid for this ad – and I don’t think it is the rich men who live at the C Street House. 

Theoretically this ad celebrates the choice Mrs Tebow made.  Take a look at this.  Since 1930 abortion has been illegal in the Philippines.  The Catholic Church has made sure of that.  There is no exception, not the life of the mother, not the cause of the pregnancy, nothing.  In 2008, 1,000 women died from illegal abortions and ten times that suffered complications from attempting an abortion. 

While in the Philippines, doing missionary work, Mrs Tebow developed amoebic dysentery, went into a coma and took large doses of antibiotics.  Her doctors advised her to end her pregnancy.  She did not, had a boy and named him Tim.  The Super Bowl ad celebrates her fifth child, Heisman trophy winner Tim.  And of course we know what a fine young man he is because he puts bible verses on his face. 

Had Mrs Tebow been in the United States in 1987, when she was pregnant, she would have had all of her options explained to her – as is the law.  The United States Supreme Court had already ruled that a woman can inquire about all her options and can make an informed choice.  The choice is hers and, in fact, she can decide if she wants any input from a doctor, minister, family member.  In other words – SHE IS TRUSTED. 

If Pam Tebow had all of the options in front of her and chose to risk her life to see if the fetus would develop into a well baby surviving birth, that would be her choice and, being her choice, we could all celebrate that her gamble worked out.  However she had no options, she had no choices, she is the living example of what would happen if Roe was lost.  Her survival and that of her baby was not a choice.

But even all of that being debated on every TV channel, blogs and op-pages does not touch what is the most dangerous component at play here.  CBS turned down ads from ManCrunch, PETA and GoDaddy but are standing strong on this one from Focus on the Family.  This is another injection of evangelical values into everyday American culture.  The sign of the cross at the batter’s box, a kneeling vision to heaven as the ball crosses the finish line, kissing a St Christopher medal before the free-shot, a thank you at the award podium are the new hip prayer that says to everyone, I am a Christian and my god really likes me.

I hear another prayer; Please don’t hit me, please don’t rape me, please don’t hurt me.  Dear god, don’t let me bleed out, protect my children, don’t kill me because I am queer.  How do I feed my kids, find a job, pay the rent.  Today CNN covered the National Prayer Breakfast and instead of focusing on Clinton and Obama speaking strongly against the Ugandan Bill #18, calling for the execution of homosexuals and three years imprisonment for not turning anyone for being a homosexual, CNN played footage of Tim Tebow signing autographs and offering the final prayer. 

Dear God, send us a miracle that shows us that you don’t care who wins at sports, that you want humans to love one another and that one’s conscience is a private matter.

The Hate in Uganda Began Right Here

It is dark and raining outside and it is not yet noon.  Us Southern Californians take our rain very seriously.  We want it for out gardens but do not any mess with our daily lives, problems with driving or any interruptions of sunbeams striking through our windows.  It is nothing, of course, compared to Haiti.  It is unimportant compared to health care reform for women and girls, which is in the balance of electing Martha Coakley today.  This one election in Massachusetts reminds me of William Carlos Williams notice on the dependence of life:

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens

But no matter the earthquake, special elections or my desire to spend the day knitting for my pregnant friends' expectations, I am called to keep my attention on some insane militaristic activity in a distant place, Uganda.  After the hundreds of times I have advised aspiring activists to address the problem in front of them, I am listening to something very far away.

But is it?  Is it so far away?  It seems that American fundamentalist Christian ministers have taken their blood lust to Africa.  They could not get enough traction here about their hatred of homosexuality by messing with marriage equality or DADT, so they told people in some African countries that homosexuality is a choice that people make to destroy society, that it is being exported from the West and must be stopped before it erodes the social fabric of their countries. 

These ministers are right here in my backyard.  St James Anglican Church of Newport Beach, All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's in North Hollywood broke away from their Episcopal roots over same-sex marriage and the ordination of women and homosexuals to join the Anglican Church of Uganda.   Just one mile from my house, Paul & Jan Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network with their son Matt Crouch (who is the Uganda Consul in LA), have connections in Uganda and will not make a statement on the proposed #18 calling for the execution of homosexuals.

Maybe that is the reason I feel such urgency, local faux christians are projecting their anti-homosexual plans to anywhere on earth that they can find traction.  My translation is they would do it right here if they could. Rachel Maddow tells us about the FAMILY, Truth Wins Out fights anti-gay lies,  Warren Throckmorton writes about religious abuse, Box Turtle reports anti-gay news but don’t be fooled ~ it is here, the hate in Uganda is here.

Water + Guns = ?

Please forgive me for doing something I try so hard to not do – which is point to a problem without offering a solution.  I prefer information that builds not tears, such as the divorce rate is down in Massachusetts since marriage was available to all adults and unwanted pregnancy rate is down where abortion is cheap and accessible.  I want to be part of the solution or be quiet but this week I know something is wrong and I have no idea how to fix it. 

The earthquake in Haiti is on TV, on Facebook and twitter, on texting and T-Shirts.  Anderson Cooper and Ann Curry are showing me what is happening.  I have seen Mother Teresa’s order, the Sisters of Charity, offering help in the street.  Gas stations have gas, vehicles are moving.   We have all seen tons and tons and tons of supplies.  We are told there is a bottleneck at the airport.  We are told they are waiting for the Marines to arrive.  I want to look at that. 

Can we only hand a person a bottle of water with a pistol strapped to our hip?  And then we wonder why someone has terrified look on their face.  Isn’t the person with the gun the purveyor of violence?  Why is there a military answer to a humanitarian problem?  Is that all we know how to do – is everything to be divided and conquered?  These people are 50% under 15, were 85% unemployed and starving before the earthquake. 

These are not bulked up people who watch football, drive their 4X4 through the golden arches for dinner and sleep late on Sundays.  These are not sated people who believe they are entitled to what the Jonzes have.  They are not armed gang members who have a stash they do not want to share.  Is anyone else hearing the voice of Barbara Bush commenting "things are working out very well," in regards to the post Katrina astrodome being better than what the evacuees had before?  (You may recall they were given 2k credit cards)

The Haitians are poorer than we, in the US, can even imagine.  They were frail before Tuesday.  They are hovering death today.  This “bottleneck” in wait for armed military is killing more.  Really, what on earth is a gun going add to this mix – not rhetorical.  It adds fear, force and murder.  I am double disturbed that almost no one is talking about this, not that I am alone  - I am most of the time, but that these thoughts are not in the human conversation. 

It was a short facebook post by Sherry Wolf today and an article by Bill Quigley on Common Dreams that gave me the courage to publicly state this – I am grateful to them both.  Please join with me in considering that when we show up with guns and boots and big military plans we create the outcome itself.  It is exactly what we are doing with 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.  If you want to be friends with me, send me a card with candy not show up with an automatic weapon and a plan.

ADDENDUM Magnificent piece by Bill Quigley that I discovered.  Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti

I Am An Aggravated Homosexual

Believe it or not these simple words, AGGRAVATED HOMOSEXUAL, may be enough to execute someone in Uganda.  A law calling for the death penalty is under consideration with the date galloping towards us.  There is some faint conversation about reducing the sentence to life in prison but every discussion ends with a firm commitment to seek the preferred penalty; execution. 

If you watch Rachel Maddow or are friends with me on Facebook, you know all about this proposed law.  I have been harping about it on Facebook for weeks.  To my surprise, people have been slow to boil on this.  Thankfully there are pieces in both the LA Times and NY Times today, but if you want news as it breaks you can read Box Turtle Bulletin or a blog by a Ugandan gay man who fears for his life. 

SOS Clinton spoke to this on December 14 and we have yet to hear from the President. 

On Sept. 25, 2009, David Bahati, member of the Ugandan Parliament, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 for review and vote by parliament. The most controversial part of the bill calls for the death penalty for people convicted of "aggravated homosexuality."   Uganda Minister Martin Ssempa is calling for a nationwide demonstration in support of Uganda #18 on January 19, 2010. 

The why?  There is no answer, as it is madness.  Here are a few things that are being said.  They think that it is to protect the family.  The US preachers told them that homosexuals are intentionally colonizing Africa.  They have paraded a variety of people who claim that homosexuality is not only a preference but the manifestation of evil.  They offer prayer camp and, for women, they attempt to rape women out of being lesbian. 

This is not about HIV/AIDS.  This is not about a penalty for men who believe there is a cure in raping little girls.  This is an irrational frenzy, whipped up by US evangelicals and supported by madmen.  This is beyond Arthur Miller or William Peter Blatty.  This is real and it is SOON and we must resist the instant feeling to reject this because it is so out-rage-ous.  
     
Admittedly, I am baffled as to why I am so drawn to this injustice; there are so many happening world wide.  My commitment has always been to American social justice but there is something special going on here and I feel like a mother bear who senses danger looming in the distance. 

Another reason I am drawn is that Americans have inspired this genocide, many of them from Southern California and, of course, my personal favorite faux Christian, Rick Warren who just summoned up 2.4 million in three days from his OC congregation.  (I just can’t believe the residents of Lake Forest know where their money is going.)   African men and women are facing hell itself with the masquerade that  there is a queer agenda of destroying the “opposite sex” family unit.  Maybe the preachers, along with Carrie Prejean, could just not get enough traction on the subject here in the US. 

Mary Daly, A Truly Revolting Hag

A hundred times a person has told me that their dream is to own a bookstore.  I totally understand and lament with them over what a bad idea it is.  Discount books, online stores, Kindle, the greening of the industry, impossible margins and, yet, all the negativity could never trump books, books, books.  Order them, unpack them, shelve them, dust them - just love them.  A bibliophile cannot be deterred. 

The person in brown with a hand truck yanks the load over the thresh hold and every day is Christmas.  You pet them, call people who placed a special order for them, you skim them and take the best ones home.  I remember the arrival of Sagan's Cosmos, Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle and, most of all, Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly. 

I had made prior arrangements with Maria that when it arrived, I would take it upstairs and she would work for me until it was devoured completely.  One day in 1978 it arrived.  It had a dust cover but under that colorful paper exterior was a solid textured red which to me was as fine as Italian leather.  I opened it like Pandora's box, smelled its newness and held my breath as my life was about to change and I knew it.  I paced.  I raged.  I shouted.  I threw myself into a chair and smoked.  I wrote questions in the margins but mostly wrote YEAH!!!!  RIGHT!!!!  Alice B. Toklas, my tortoise shell feline friend watched me, cheering me on. 

Two days later, as if bursting out of the dark cave of patriarchy, I finished.  I shut the back cover, flipped it over and began all over again because I wanted it to sink beyond my bones, clear through to my soul.  When I had read it twice, I wrote inside the front cover, "Who could write such a book? Only Mary Daly." That was just yesterday in the cosmic education of my soul, though in time and space it was 1978.  I was transformed and she was my stone cutter.

In her book tour, Mary Daly was going to speak at Claremont University.  Of course, Maria and I would be there.  I sat on pins and needles wanting her every word to pierce through complacency and activate me, annihilate me, invent me as I wanted to be revolting, a hag, a womyn.  When she finished, she offered to sign books and, without a thought about what I had written inside the cover, I threw myself into the line.  She signed in monotone manner, not looking up, taking it on as a task.  It was my turn.  I handed her my war torn adored copy.  She opened it and read what I had written.  She stopped, looked at me, smiled as if to say, oh this one gets it.  Yes, Mary, this one gets it. 

Tonight, while sifting through my Facebook Live Feed, I read the news today, oh my.  Mary Daly has left us.  In an email from the great feminist theologian, Mary Hunt ~

With a heavy heart, yet grateful beyond words for her life and work, I report that Mary Daly died this morning, January 3, 2010 in Massachusetts. She had been in poor health for the last two years.

    Her contributions to feminist theology, philosophy, and theory were many, unique, and if I may say so, world-changing. She created intellectual space; she set the bar high. Even those who disagreed with her are in her debt for the challenges she offered.

    When I return from vacation at week’s end I will post more. But I want WATER colleagues, of which she was a stalwart one, to know this now. She always advised women to throw our lives as far as they would go. I can say without fear of exaggeration that she lived that way herself.

    May her spirit soar and her ideas endure.

    Mary E. Hunt
    Hoechenschwand, Germany

It was posted both at iRobyn|iWitness and Catholic Anarchy  Fantastically, it was already posted on Wiki 

Our paths crossed several times, not the least of which was a phone call during the ERA fast in 1982.  She told us to stop immediately and that government was part of the patriarchy.  We were wasting our time asking for any rights from the boys. 

Mary was our positively revolting hag, in-venting a language for womyn. As a person who believes in reincarnation, let me say, god help the family she is reborn into - they better be dykes. 

No one, absolutely no one, informed my feminism more than Mary Daly.  I am proud to have known her. Tonight I miss her. She breathes through every activist thing I do. I am so very grateful.

We are all in the Volume

2009 has been one of the most fantastic years of my life and I have had several.  Maybe it is especially thrilling as I had no intention of living this long (as if it is up to me).  The last decade has been a gift filled with new friends, new communities, old friends sticking with me, happy familiarities and the enormous jewel of retrospect. 

Certainly NOW, NWPC, the ERA Roundtable, the Veteran Feminists of America are my clubs; like badges a scout wears with pride that say, "I belong."  Intergenerational friends are knocking me out!  I love my friends whom waitresses think are my kids.  This year I faced cops on horses, celebrated OC Pride, marched in DC, founded ERA Once and For All and learned that the fine art of agitation is contagious.

I don't think I can fully express how the internet has revolutionized my life.  I tweet, I post, I video; vanity has officially been shown the door.  I feel love for people I don't even know.  I care if someone is well who lives in a state I have never been to.  I am mad for a little girl in Cambridge whose mum writes about her. Facebook, blogs, eNews, HuffPo, tweets, youtube; tasty and filling too.  As my virtual friend in Minnesota taught me, I agitate myself.  I know more today, want to know more tomorrow, and forget it almost immediately if I didn't write it down, god - 61 is a gas.

Get a tattoo, wear a hat, buy a lottery ticket, expect a miracle, know that you are loved.  We are all in the volume, hurtling through space and I hope your life bursts with joy and appreciation in 2010. 

Thank you for visiting my blog.  It makes me happier than you could imagine.  Chances are, if you visit my blog, you love women and girls.  If you haven't seen this wonderful little video, take a few minutes and be so proud of yourself that you get it. 

Decliners Have Lost the Plot

On the morning of November 4, 2008 queer Californians lost their privacy, their swagger and their right to be glib.  Like gorgeous Christmas toys under a tree, they sprang to life, nodding to one another and widening their circle of camaraderie.  November 4th may have been the defeat of marriage equality but it was the baton striking time on the music stand, calling LGBTQAI to find one another, support one another, hug and assure one another.
 
Was it Obama + Milk +  cultural markers + exposed religions’ involvement that woke up the queer social justice movement?  Was it the natural collection of intention from Tennessee Williams to Stonewall to Rosie & Ellen & Rachel and Idol’s second place winner?  Party planners, two identical figures on top a wedding cake, Newsom marrying Lyon & Martin; why was 2009 an important year for the Queer Civil Rights Movement?  On November 4, 2008 PRIDE took on a whole new meaning as the partiers,  non-political gays and activists embraced their consciences.  It was coming into focus that the issue of marriage could be used as a vehicle for lifting queers out of isolation, loneliness, depression, suicide, homelessness, poverty, illness and outright murder.

Let there be no mistake that the 200,000 marchers on Pennsylvania Ave were not approaching the US Capitol to demand marriage licenses.  They (we) were there to be out and proud and loud.  They came to state, not ask, that equality is natural, normal and theirs to claim.  With each rainbow-draped, hugging, hand-holding marcher, many knew that this was the enlightened response to Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena, Laurence King, Angie Zapata and every hiding, frightened, harassed, bullied youth; to every sick, dying, aging gay senior denied economic parity. 

The DC Love-in, known as the National Equality March, was a gigantic exhale in the breathing of the New American Civil Rights Movement.  It was born decades before and is well on its way to success.  It has highs and lows, bruises and bandstands, funerals and parades.  All of the movers and shakers and changemakers are whispering and occasionally shouting: Step, Step, Step.  Push, Push, Push.  It is on the move.

The New York Senate awoke the East Coast queers last week.  Rick Warren just learned a lesson that gay newscasters will vet and press.  Lt Dan Choi discovered that in addition to being fluent in several Middle Eastern languages he can ignite hearts with his cadence.  Groups and individuals are becoming civilized in the New American Civil Rights Movement.

The defeat of Marriage Equality in a California ballot measure in 2008 was a marker in the movement forward.  It was not a milestone.  It was a loud call to action.  It was a quiet confidence to some boy or girl in middle school that they have a life ahead.  It was a collective knowing that queer will be normalized as these civil rights workers will not give up. 

Somewhere in this breathing, pulsating, evolving movement replete with votes, propositions, measures, ballots, clipboards, pens and signatures, court filings, fundraisers, bumper stickers, PSA’s, tweets and justice ~ some significant players have lost the plot entirely.  Money was spent, research was done, numbers were crunched and, maybe, marriage may not be winnable in the California 2010 ballot measure.  And so these naysayers have embraced their wiser-than-wise calculation, as if marriage was the goal.  (Is this an indication that they will be leaving the equality movement as soon as marriage is achieved?)

Somewhere they have forgotten that the point was inclusion, conversation, safety in congregating, integrated alliances, lifting loneliness, assuaging losses, changing hearts, informing minds, converting legislators, encouraging ministers, uniting our society in celebrating diversity. 

When these research driven groups decline to sign, I take back my hopeful pen, lower my eyes and mourn the fact that they have taken their eye off the destination.

To My Friends Who Would Love Facebook But Don’t Know It.

I am sorta an old bag by now.  61 may sound young when you are 61 or even 80 but when you are 15 it sounds like a person who is in sunset, lost touch, doesn’t know what’s in or out. (Dare I tell you I found Adam Lambert delightfully lewd and fun?  I have seen Mick Jagger and Janet Jackson do things just as erotic on stage.  I mean what was Jellyroll Morton about?  Nina Simone singing about?  He kissed a boy and he liked it.  Oh, just shut up if you didn’t like it.) 

In addition to all that is the fact that I don’t seek social relationships, queer or otherwise, but social networking – that is another story entirely.  I realize that the names Facebook and Twitter seem trivial, juvenile or worthless, and they can be, but they can be used in as many ways as there are users.  In fact, I know many people who would benefit from them, enjoy them and make the world a better place with them.  They just need to sign on, give it a try and, as Tim Gunn says, “make it work.”

The common quip is that no one cares what you ate for breakfast.  Yes, that is most likely true, however we may care that you are having breakfast at all, having breakfast and going to a demonstration, having breakfast and reading an important news story, skipping breakfast to get to an event.  On the other hand, if you are alone or far away; knowing that your friend is having a latte after dealing with a flooded basement, making eggs for the kids who are home today, baking cinnamon rolls does bring you closer. 

If you were to see all the groups I belong to on Facebook, you would see they reflect my personal interests.  The majority are political but there are religious, spiritual, pets, hobbies and shopping.  I have friends in all of those categories and friends from every chapter in my life.  (see friend wheel on the left.  Names are on the outside with lines to show the connections.)  For those who do not know how Facebook works, and there are many variations, I use it to generate a dynamic newspaper from all of the associations I have.  By selecting LIVE FEED, I can read posts made by all of my friends and associations in real time.  And, let me add, if you were on it I would read your posts that you have gleaned from your reading and dynamic life.
 
I care that NOW is demonstrating in DC, Boston, MN.  I belong to Planned Parenthood, national and local; NWPC, national and local; NOW chapters all over the country.  I never ask why the Women’s Movement isn’t doing anything – as I see they are constantly doing something.   And more over, I am friends with leaders of these organizations so I know what they think about Stupak-Pitts, HCR, mammograms and campaigns all over the world.  Apply that to every issue that interests me and you can imagine that my LIVE FEED is an ever changing, up to the minute, comprehensive newspaper of my own design.

Everyday, if I choose, I can read what is on the minds of David Mixner, Robert Thurman, Patricia Ireland and the Guerrilla Girls.  There are posts from Fetch Dog, Kate Spade and Vera Bradley.  My feed includes fifty LGBT groups all over the country, women’s organizations all over the world, political campaigns, and the lives of many people I love.
 
We hear the ladies of the View and other people on TV mock Facebook and I feel compelled to introduce so many people I know to get on Facebook.  I know it will broaden your lives and, more selfishly, I want you contributing to my LIVE FEED.  (ps I don’t eat breakfast).

The Father of the New Civil Rights Movement.

If you are not already reading David Mixner’s website, Live From Hell’s Kitchen, then begin today.  It is the heartbeat, the voice, the intersection of the New Civil Rights Movement in America.  Certainly David would be the last to say so but that is only another indication of his place in this river of change. 

If you were fortunate to be at the National Equality March, you saw thousands of rainbow draped people marching past the White House on their way to Congress.  I was there, as I had been a dozen times before, and this march was like no other.  This was not angry, not demanding, not insisting that some outcome be averted.  Conversation was not desperate or chants goading.  This was celebration and if you are not around young LGBT much, let me share with you that this celebration is the outburst of 200,000 people all being OUT or okay hanging with people who are OUT. 

Yes, there was awareness that many who were not there wanted to be out, to be safe, to be loved.  We all know about hate crimes.  Judy Shepard spoke and every one of us know someone who is living in isolation or died alone.  However my point is that this gathering was bubbling with joy, love, pride and a deep understanding that rights and equality are on the way.

Several people I know here in Southern California went to Maine the last couple of weeks.  As with all activism, the action starts with full belief in success.  They begged for money, packed their bags and expected to come home having sustained Marriage Equality for Maine.  Once again we woke up on a Nov 4th to the majority of voters fearfully shunning LGB people.  The loss is the opposite of what I felt in DC at the march; it is a room without oxygen, without color, joyless.       

I want to stop this feeling of a collective momentum against queers.  I am wondering if this is actually about referendums, propositions and the majority hoarding their perceived rights which is the historical precedent.  Is this so egregious in its application that it will call on the American conscience to stop even soliciting justice from the majority.  It is not proper to ask, to expect, to empower the majority to protect the rights of a minority.  Wiser people than I knew that ~ when did we lose that thread?

The diagnosis and resolution of that conflict is not my focus (though we need it to be championed by some).  I am always and only concerned with equality which brings me to the discussion about the ideas, opinions and actions of David Mixner who is becoming the organic bellwether of this Civil Rights Movement.  Today he posted the second in a serious of writings on the loss of Marriage Equal rights, when the voters are asked to protect a minority.  He has done what needs to be done which is stop naming this movement marriage equality, military service, assigning the status of hate crimes – running piecemeal state – to – state and name it what it is: CIVIL RIGHTS. 

This is the next footfall in the march of human rights.  This is a breathing, growing expression of diversity within the human race and it cannot be marginalized, brutalized, isolated, ignored any more.  There is not another moment to wait, another omen to be unveiled, another tragic loss to be survived for everyone who believes in civil rights to name this movement, join this movement, embrace and escalate this movement.

In close I want to include in this clarion call to recognize our leaders, join with one another and dedicate ourselves to this just cause ~ a sincere and wise caution: we must be vigilant to be that which we want to create.  We have to become and behave as the society which we want.  Within our ranks we have to include LGBTAIQQ, all genders, sexes, ages and races PERIOD.  We need women in leadership, welcome our advocates, include people of color.  We need to bridge generations, honoring passion in the young and the veteran.  More simply: We must be the change we want to see.  No one is equal until everyone is equal. 

Equality ~ Nothing Less Will Do

The Equal Rights Amendment has been on my mind, in my spirit and written across my heart for over 30 years.  After going to the National Equality March it is crystal clear to me that the country is roaring with the word EQUALITY and this is the perfect time to build an ERA internet portal.   It has been a long time dream of mine to have one central  location on the internet where people could find current information on constitutional equality. 

On Wednesday, October 14 I woke up at 3 AM with the words ERA ONCE AND FOR ALL blinking in my mind – like a neon sign.  By noon I bought the url, opened the twitter account (@eraforall) started a facebook page and got a gmail account.  I suppose it is proof that when it is the right thing do to – it all just comes together.  With the help of my electronic tribe; Phillip, Everett and Patty, it came together in 15 days.  http://ERAOnceandForAll.com 

There are lots of ERA sites, most are campaigning for one specific strategy to advance constitutional equality. I don’t mind that so much as I mind being negative about any other strategy.  I have zero interest in speaking against any strategy.  Spiritually, there is nothing to be gained by speaking against either strategy, everything to gain by supporting both and, finally, when one catches fire ~ we can all push like hell together!

Http://eraonceandforall.com  ‘s mission  is
•  support all strategies for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
•  distribution of information on the current status of the ERA
•  education on the history of the ERA

Check out the fantastic endorsement page = http://eraonceandforall.com/endorsements.html 

Email your name and organization and business to be listed.  You are all welcome to comment, to send in things to post, to note actions.  Do you have a site or ERA blog you would like listed?     

This last week I have been spinning in a cyclone of miracles.  One of them is that for the very first time, I saw video of the 1982 fast.  I made a video of it playing on my computer.  It is very degraded and 27 years old but you may enjoy it anyway.

Roses and Thorns at NEM

The last 90+ days of my energy was spent on the National Equality March.  All it took was the word, EQUALITY to make me sit up and pay attention.  If it is about Equality, I am gonna be there.  In June I started asking everyone I know, every organization I belong to, “Hey its about EQUALITY, who’s with me?
 
The answers were really interesting and I am not all together certain when they will fully unfold and be available for reliable conclusions.  Broken heart, faulty expectations, thrilling new people, more love than I was prepared for and deep regard for civil rights.  At 61 I am still shocked that civil rights aren’t obvious, (see there is something constant in the life of an activist).  Justice; I want it, I am willing to work for it, we need it, lets get it.  As my friend Melissa relayed a chant she heard while marching up Pennsylvania Avenue, “We here.  We’re queer.  We’re fabulous.  Don’t fuck with us.”  Yeah, that about sums it up.

On the phone today, trying to explain how I feel, all I could really say is that I am standing still while a diorama of events is roaring past me, around me; almost knocking me over.  I hesitate to pluck one out of the rampage to examine it but feel conflicted that the impact might lose its muster if I don’t. 

I am going to use what my new tribe of MARCH ON asked me in their exit interview (their 174th of the day) to talk about a couple of highs and lows of the experience. 

Within the holy walls of NOW I had both highs and lows.  Rainbow tee shirts, 654 facebook MARCH 4 EQUALITY NOW fans, purple rounds, sisters collecting on 15th Street after months of fund raising, plane tickets, support that feminist poets wax on about.  National leaders not marching with us, not writing about the march on the blog, not endorsing until three weeks before the march – makes me mournful.  I say that somewhat sheepishly but it is my reality and for those who look beyond the surface they will know it could only be felt by one who loves NOW, maybe a bit too much.  

When my NOW family began their march to the Capitol, I waved goodbye and took off to find a cab; believing that I would get to the West Lawn when it was empty and could stake out our space.  The driver got me 2 miles ahead in the 2.4 mile march and I found myself at 10th and Pennsylvania.  The march was well under way, marchers as far as one could see in either direction AND when I got to the lawn, it was already half full.  Maybe I didn’t know anyone, know their name or they know mine, but it was family ~ LGBTQAI Family.  It was radiant, dazzling, beautiful family. I felt loved and safe.

An hour later my tribe arrived, straggling in with ridiculous smiles, squeezy hugs and ready to rally.  Lady Gaga, god and the gays delivered 4 hours of talks and song while we sat on the grass.  My most adored Advocate friend, who works tirelessly for LGBT, was given a backstage pass!  Oh at last, after two months of trying to get her 5 minutes at the mic to salute West Hollywood’s commitment to LGBT rights and acknowledge the Third Wave of NOW, she got to the right place, at the right time when one of the four principle organizers tells her to leave immediately or she will BE removed, as she is not “ one of us.”   Who is this us?  Am I one of US?  I don’t want to be one of THAT us.  I am ashamed.  I am ashamed of us.

Like the Obamas playing roses and thorns at the dinner table; the whole weekend held highs and lows but using this metaphor ~ I am stuck with a few powerful thorns and a dozen, dozen, dozen roses.

National Equality March 2009 (42 photos), by Zoe Nicholson

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Welcome to this Moment

Welcome to this moment.  Welcome to the right place and the right time.

 We are the well, the brave, the capable.  We are the ones who can come out and live openly in the light of day.  We are the Change-makers who are advancing the river of human consciousness. 

Let me answer the question, “Why 2010?”  Because it is happening.  Game on.  The forces are collecting on both sides.  It is NOT because of money and signatures; it is because of hearts and minds.  This is about the pulse of the earth  ~  the opening for change.  We are the sand in the oyster. We are the agitators who will be happily forgotten when preference, orientation, sexuality, sexual identity are no longer used to separate, to categorize, to castigate.  They will just be some of the many ways humanity is expressed.

Marriage is our salt.  Gandhi and the Indians did not need to collect salt themselves.  He did not need to walk 241 miles to the sea to make salt.  This was his act of defiance to say that India belongs to Indians and the salt in their sea is theirs.  However the most important transformation was happening along the road: people watching at the roadside who saw (and felt) the marchers determination, the press who reported the collecting effort, the undeniable fact that people were serious and willing to sacrifice for their country’s independence.  Conversations with everyone swirling in the matrix of change.

·         No one here is going to work on this campaign so they can storm a church to stand at an altar where they are not welcome.

·         No one here is demanding that the Catholic Church grant the sacrament of matrimony to queers.

·         No one here is so trivial as to think this is about gift registries, wedding veils or tuxedos.

·         No one here is ready to work in this campaign to just be able to have their fairy tale day. 

We are here to use the levers of marriage and military service to move the consciousness of humanity in the next unfolding of self-discovery; to hold the river rapids steady as we lurch forward in dissolving this form of second class citizenship.  We are here at the edge of evolution and change because we have vision and lives which afford us this luxury.

I am so proud to be here ~ as the beginning sets in place all that follows.  I am in love with equality and you are too.  It is just that simple.  Because, in fact, there is just no place else to be. 

speech at Restore Equality 2010 meeting Orange, CA

Invest in Students ~ Invest in Change

Reprinted with permission from the October Issue of Ladybug Flights.

Several months ago a rumbling began in the LGBT movement, propelled by the cascade of states ready to recognize the pairing of non-straight people and the shocking loss of marriage equality in California. A few national organizations started talking about a National March on the Mall for Equality.

As we are Americans, everyone had an opinion. Many felt and some still feel that it is not the right time because we are working hard in many states, mostly running on fumes, fund raising, collecting signatures, electing politicians who are ready to embrace that humanity is diverse. Others put their heads down, got the required permits and put one foot in front of another. For weeks blogs, posts, tweets were argumentative, contentious, competitive, mostly questioning the timing or defending a national march.

I never questioned for one moment. To me nothing is as effective, productive, long lasting, transforming as a march. I posted the question on Facebook ~ how did your life of activism begin and everyone who responded said it was a march. From the moment the decision is made, an individual begins planning, thinking, dreaming (possibly scheming) about the march. The three hours of walking and listening to speakers is only the cherry on top of the sumptuous sundae of becoming a changemaker.

Today you can effectively participate in politics, movements, marches right there at your desk or on your couch. You can collect signatures, blog, post, tweet, make calls, reach out through a network of your own design. If you can't go to a march for any reason, you can sponsor someone who can. It is an investment with high yield returns. Gandhi's life would have been entirely different without, Herman Kallenbach and the dozens of benefactors who contributed to the ashram and the campaign. You will be confirming someone's ideals and making it possible to see them realized.
   
One group that has caught my attention is Students for the National Equality March. Through the spectacular social media network of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, this is a national organization supporting students who have the time, the passion, the character to come to Washington DC for the March for Equality but need sponsorship. In addition, members of Students for the National March for Equality will be posting and tweeting, so you can follow minute by minute. This is the new electronic movement; exciting and unstoppable.

Of course the real payoff happens when that marcher comes home. They are, not just changed, but are now a changemaker. They have found that an ideal, manifest in community, is irresistible.

Happily over 200 organizations have endorsed the National March for Equality and are collecting a force for change. You can find out all about it at Equality Across America. The excitement is building. The District of Columbia is voting on marriage equality, Rep Nadler is introducing a bill to repeal DOMA, Vermont has Hubby, Hubby ice cream to celebrate gay marriage. The country is on the March! I marched in 1968, 71, 72, 78, 80, …. and 2009! I hope you will march with me in person or virtually.