OnLine With Zoe

Sisterhood of NOW Chapters Denounces Democratic National Convention for Discrimination Against Moms

The Sisterhood of National Organization for Women chapters in Southern California - Hollywood, Long Beach-South Bay, Pacific Shore, and Palm Springs - join together in denouncing the Democratic National Committee's practice of discrimination against mothers with young children. 

 Feminist activist and spokeswoman on issues of equality, Gloria Steinem said, "Women are the key to a Democratic victory, and sometimes, children are the key to women. It's both right and smart for the Democratic Convention to behave as if children exist."

 “When the Democratic Party refuses to provide childcare at the convention and denies automatic access for young children to join their moms who serve as delegates on the Convention floor, an entire group of women are disenfranchised,” states Susie Shannon, a delegate to the 2012 DNC Convention and mother of a young child.  “Moms with young children 6 years of age and under who cannot be left at home, some of whom are breastfeeding, are relegated to second-class status within the Democratic Convention, unable to participate as a delegate due to antiquated policies and inadequate accommodations that were apparently in place before Women’s suffrage.”

 “This policy creates an insurmountable barrier for mothers with young children to participate in the process of choosing a Presidential candidate at the Democratic Convention,” stated Lindsey Horvath, President of Hollywood NOW.  “The DNC requires children and babies to have a credential to enter the Convention, and then denies these credential requests from moms.  The DNC credentialing process is being used as a tool to prevent mothers from participating at the Convention and is nothing short of discriminatory.”

 “We believe this practice of discrimination needs to end in 2012,” stated Zoe Nicholson, President of Pacific Shore NOW.  “This is the year for the Democratic Leadership to demonstrate comprehensive support of women, ending this outdated practice and to state publicly that it supports true family values.”

Move the Movement Part 1

I cannot count the hours I have spent trying to figure out what stalls a movement.  Certainly I have spent many more working on advancing a movement.  Obviously the answer to the first contributes to the success of the second.  I have yet to find a discussion on resolving these two – which are scientific measurable entities in quantum society – why not fix them?

These are not opposites as opposites interact with one another, irritate one another, work in direct action with one another; oppressor/oppressed.  That combination is the flint of active direct action.  Sparks fly when the oppressed refuse to cooperate in such a way as to expose the intention and means of the oppressor.  That is tested, practiced and documented.   

The question I struggle with is what is stopping progress which could be identified and corrected within the oppressed?  Why waste any energy, time, or organization with things which could be fixed within the oppressed.  Why aren’t we correcting anything, everything which is on our road, within our reach, that will advance the liberation of the oppressed?  I want to KNOW and get it beyond it. 

First, there is no reason to do anything that does not unite us.  That flows through to its opposite = don’t do things which divide us.  For example, I have refused to speak against either of the two ERA strategies.  They are both in Congress.  They each have their flaws.  Both have the same end, the ratification of the ERA.  I considered speaking for one and against the other at one point and then I meditated on it, prayed about it, slept on it and took a shower to arrive at the smart insight; ALL HANDS ON DECK.  There is nothing to be gained by speaking against either of them.  It is not just a waste of time but creates a negative stance.  Why spend a minute in NO when you can spend two minutes in YES.

That same idea applies in the Queer Movement.  There is nothing to be gained by speaking against any of the orgs that are working to advance Queer Liberation.  If we consider what each person can do in the context of their life; there is an org for everyone to be brave, to find camaraderie, to travel as fast as they can.  Though I find the most radical group a bit slow, I have an HRC sticker on my car because I live in Orange County, CA where that is the recognizable sign for “gay friendly,” better that than something no one here knows what it means. 

Second, there are tiers of understanding, of conscience, of action and all people do not operate on all tiers.  This is a fundamental fact which many do not embrace.  It leads to terrible division, a division which is both optional and destructive.  We have just so much energy and should use it to expose the oppressor.  That is not to say that I agree with every feminist org, every LGBTQA org, every progressive org but I am saying that activist hours would be best spent advancing the movement, identifying the oppressor, unifying the movement.  As I am apt to advise, solve the problem in front of you which can expand to say, join, support, advance the organization and agenda that feels like YOURS.  Do the work with the spotlight held steady on the oppressor.

Third, why organize in such a way that does not expose the intention and means of the oppressor.  For example, I have advised people considering a political fast to back it into a calendar event such as a legislative vote.  A general or private fast is an action that benefits the faster but it is not advancing the movement, per se.  It could be purifying a person or group but name it as such so it can and should be labeled a success immediately.  If you are going to go to the trouble of creating an event, name the mission and make sure the action is tied into it.            

Four, differentiate actions which are for the healing, safety and wellbeing of the oppressed from those which are political actions.  This is important to build strength within a suffering group.  For example the rules of rehabilitation and recovery are not the same as the rules of engagement in the kumete of political action.  Every organizer and activist knows exactly how this applies.  The Movement cannot be forged by ones who are at high risk, bad health or need to protect their privacy.   The frank separation of inner and outer actions is profoundly important. 

There is no doubt in my mind that if all of the fissures, differences, judgments, hierarchies within the oppressed could be put aside on the Liberation Highway, the trip would be faster, stronger and, actually, unifying.  In fact, priorities would shift entirely as organic leadership would rise and the sole, shared oppressor would be outnumbered, out maneuvered, shit out of luck.     

Radicals Need Some Rules to be Effective

I suppose there is some irony in the title, Rules for Radicals.  The public opinion is that radical changemakers are rebels, spontaneous, sometimes reckless.  Possibly it is best to leave it that way for the oppressors, put them off their game a bit, but for those of us who are truly dedicated to making change and pushing through the limits of convention, not having a real understanding of the paradigm of oppression, the ways change occurs, the internal game plan ~ there is much to be lost. 

There are always two parallel movements in USA Social Justice; the healing of the oppressed and the integration into society of the minority.  It is easily seen in the LGBTQAI movement.  As we work to end the oppressive laws and cultural prohibitions, we are called to care for those who have suffered at the hand of the oppressor; i.e. youth homes, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, anti-bullying campaigns.  In the VAW movement, we are working against H.R. 4970 which excludes protections for the women of First Nation, First Immigration, Queer Nation; but within the movement we have to care for one another with clinics, shelters and legal protections.  These are two very distinct movements that are forever intertwined and must run simultaneously.

As the movement speeds up, slows down, breathes through time; we rest, we march, we dance, we mourn, we fall in and out of love, we move, we want others to move, we can’t wait another minute and, yet, another year passes with no advances.  That is how it is.  That is the way it works.  People jump in and out, take a break to refuel, raise the flag and walk the talk. 

The question I am struggling with today is what is the best use of our precious energy, the true robust demonstration of our demands, the strongest push in the labor of this inevitable birth.  Losing the thread, emphasizing the unimportant, diminishing the gravity of oppression, excluding those most harmed, building too narrow a path for all of us to travel. This last week, two cherished minorities made some choices that I cannot resist addressing.

Dan Cathy, owner of Chick Fil A, made a strong anti-marriage equality statement.  It was a huge opportunity to demonstrate that the disenfranchised Queer Nation is working on establishing Marriage Equality for the entire USA.  The point of focus was conveniently all over the country, with open doors and long hours and good weather.  It was a real wealth of protest possibilities.  I stood on a sidewalk myself, supporting local groups and cheering on non-violent direct action.  Jon Stewart to Brian Williams all covered the cause. 

But it was within that coverage that the point of oppression physically changed.  The oppressor changed from Dan Cathy’s ideas to the media’s trivialization of his impact.  As the family values people lined up for some sandwiches, the media let the spin cement dry that this was about Dan’s limp sentence.  It was then that the radicals, the protests, the entire Queer Nation needed to move our powerful spotlight to the money.  Follow the money!  Aim that search light on the Money.  Dan Cathy’s power increased as we kissed on his doorway and had a fun time because the media was not following the CFA Foundation, his money, his alliances. 

Years ago I took Aikido lessons.  (true)  The best part for me was that the Sensei always showed us “right way.”  I am going to try that here.  I wish the changemakers had gotten the message after the opponents had lunch and moved the demonstrations to major media outlets.  Petitions, email, sit-ins, lines of fake money, articles about the CFA Foundation, highlight that Secretary Clinton was on her way to Kampala, Uganda to honor LGBT leaders, endless possibilities to hone in on the point of oppression: misinformation.  I believe that most Americans have no idea about the money line from their waffle fries to a noose – it is a very difficult association, as it should be.  It is the duty of the oppressed to make that visible.  As radicals (those who want change at the root) we have to be ready to move like quicksilver with the demonstrable issues. 

The second event that occurred this last week was Slutwalk L.A.  Reading the posts on Facebook, it seems like everyone had a great time.  It was a real push to pull off this event; permits pulled, location changes, limited parking, leadership shifting right up to the last few days.  It was a heroic effort for all involved. 

Like the Aikido teacher’s method, I want to share my dream slutwalk.  As my poem of 2011 reflected, all people who say no, mean no ~ have the right to say no.  All people, whose no is disregarded, are at risk.  The Toronto officer announced that those who are violated asked for it in some way and are responsible for their outcome.  My estimation of who that includes would be people in prison, hospitals, retirement homes, mentally challenged, children, anyone in an unequal relationship.  It is further illustrated by the US House of Representatives identifying several groups they want to exclude from the Violence Against Women Act; immigrants, LGBT, Native Americans.  And, one of the most at risk, women in the military. 

In the Slutwalk of my dreams, there would be women and men representing all of the identifiable high risk groups.  The reason being that it would demonstrate the parameter of humanity that is violated through the weapon of rape and sexual assault.  I think that we already got the idea that duct tape on nipples, torn fishnets, wearing crime scene tape is a fine representation of one group of people at risk – but it is a lost opportunity to not show the viewers – the breadth of those who are violated.  A contingency of seniors, of workers, of children, of military, of First Nation, of Dreamers, of LGBT all standing in unmistakable unity, as they are unified by their shared oppression, that is part one of MY DREAM SLUTWALK.  That would clearly identify who actually falls into the category of SLUT and how outrageous and immoral victim blaming is.  Secondly, there is no movement without allies, without converts, without bridges.  I really would love to see each person who is a champion of consensual sex walking and talking with a peace officer, an official, a health worker, a care provider, a legislator. 

There are rules for radicals.  A few that apply here:
Rule #1 demonstrate the oppression.
Rule #2 shine the light on the oppressor
Rule #3 move with the points of oppression
Rule #4 expand the circle of understanding and information
Rule #5 protect the oppressed as you wish the oppressor would do

CFA Foundation is supporting the criminalization of homosexuality
Media is talking about kissing and lines of pro-family-values eaters
Slut means anyone who is not in power whose consent is disposable

How do we as Human Rights Activists DEMONSTRATE this.

Enough is Enough (in every language, every country)

Something extraordinary is happening at this time, while you are alive.  This is it.  This is not a movie or a chapter in a book or a sheaf of photos that invoke nostalgia.  This is now.  It is not the 60’s with Marvin Gaye singing to us.  This is not the 70’s with photos of Vietnam.  This is not the 80’s with the unfolding of the Names Quilt.  This is now.  And though you may think the difference is that you are alive, there are other differences that mark this time as extraordinary.

With the events of April 28, 2012 how can it be denied that change is bubbling up in numbers that cannot be ignored.  It is global, not only geographically but across the population, across issues, across borders.  My preference is to award this to social media but that is a shallow interpretation.  A more accurate account may be that a tribe of souls incarnated in the mid-fifties to usher in this new set of tools for us to unite, find one another, compare, realize our similarities and see clearly that those who hold power are a minority that travels dark alleys.

My observations all come from looking at the tactics.  The groundswell of conversations have gotten so big that a whole new language is emerging that demonstrates the equality that is unfolding.  The diversity of the issues and locations is eliminating one charismatic leader; both in need and effect.  Possibly soon we won’t care so much who said it but, rather, what did it mean.  Just as art survives the artist, truth must survive the speaker.  Content will be tested by its longevity.  Maybe it will collect like a rolling snowball or dilute like a game of telephone; but the truth which survives will have its own special force that is beyond a rarefied elitist set of voters in a Rotunda.

The founders of Wiki trust that given enough time and freedom of access, the truth shakes out.  It is a big change, one that offers respect that we have a common intuition for knowing the difference between what sounds right and what sounds insincere, manipulated, even invented.  There is something coalescing that has the same chant, tone, cadence; Arab Spring, Occupy, Slutwalk, Women Unite, Travon Martin protests, Keystone; people are finding what binds them in one simple phrase ~ Enough is Enough.  (lets wish for ERA and Marriage Equality)

Try as any liberation activist might, to break the bands of convention and call for change, nothing has come close to the realized potential as the disenfranchised finally discovering that what they have in common isn’t blood, isn’t desire, isn’t oxygen but oppression.  This is potent, profound, fecund.  Stand by me, march with me, push my wheelchair.  I don’t care what specific minority you currently represent, fact is you belong to all of the them if you find yourself saying, enough is enough.

Service is Leadership and Leadership is Service

Over the last few months I have been asked, I have written and I hold steadfast on the subject of privilege.  I hope that I have not participated in the singling out of one person but rather have held the conversation on a general plane; an applicable plane.  I realize there may be a lot to say about an individual on this issue but not by bystanders and not in the public square.  I believe and I live that I am accountable for my life, I demonstrate with my life, that is the purpose of life.

While working on a new memoir, when I got to 1975, I wrote about my year teaching at an all-girls high school in Echo Park which was 90% Latina.  After the chapter was done, I realized that I had demonstrated what I think about privilege even back then.  To me it seemed obvious and not some heady philosophical theory at all.  It was the organic response to empowering the disenfranchised.  If I am a senior in a meeting of young feminists, if a straight person comes to a meeting of LGBT people, if a White person comes to a meeting of People of Color; the right thing to do is to support the emerging group in service to their empowerment. 

In a recent interview, the journalist asked, “So you think that Mr. so-in-so had no place at a women’s march?”   Oh, yes I do: Fundraising before the march.  Arranging for city permits.  At the end of the march, picking up litter.  At the landing of the March checking the sound.  Along the route with a First Aid kit.  But never leading.  The interviewer was not interested or, maybe, lost his verve as I did not give him the answer he wanted.  Pity.

This what I think about privilege and how I demonstrated it. 

Early in the year, when I was having a meltdown about no one doing any homework, one of the Sisters told me that many of them have no time for such things.  They worked or they were the primary adult in the household making dinner for their younger siblings.  I had to get hip to all that pretty fast.  Many times, maybe most days, someone was missing and it was because of a funeral, a gang funeral; a brother, a boyfriend, a tribe mate.  These girls knew things I could not imagine.  Try as I might, love them as I did, it was clear they needed a Latina standing in front of them not a privileged white girl, wearing a navy linen dress, driving her red beetle from the beach.  They needed a woman who knew their lives, their family life, their future possibilities and could demonstrate how to push onward.  On Holy Thursday I gave my notice with one caveat, asking Sister Jeannine to hire only a Spanish speaking Latina to teach junior and senior religion.  It made me really sad but right is right.  I was given the “Most Liked Teacher” award that year.  A treasured pearl.

The MOVEMENT needs us to prioritize and study leadership.

My plan was to avoid the conversation all together but my plan has evaporated.  About a week ago I saw, on facebook around 9 PM,  a picture of Hugo Schwyzer with a red circle and strike on it.  I opened the page, “Feminists Against Hugo Schwyzer“ and watched the “like” tally roar.  I think I went to bed when it was at about 160.  Now it is at 566 and the debate has bled all over the pond, small pond but one of the ponds I frequent.  I am not certain I want to get in the fracas but my thinking is mine, I own it and offer it. 

It seems that there are a lot of very strong opinions, strong like coffee or a scent is strong.  There is little that is subtle or mindful or aware or refined or worthy of many of the writers.  I am choosing to believe that many of the voices around this pond are gifted thinkers; by that I mean I would like to hear from them on the actual subjects of privilege, gender, leadership; the entire oppressed/oppressor paradigm.  I am sincerely flummoxed that the conversation always includes names and never takes a leap to arching lessons, tenets, ideas, general social conclusions, etc.

My unfolding in activism has always been parallel with expanding my understanding of humans, of organic physics, of the science of leadership.  I have to admit, this keeps me sane in the face of Roe eroding, Prop 8, unforgivable suicides and so much more.  I do not use it as an excuse but as a shoring up of my heart in terrible bloody waters. 

I want to talk about the role of a white person in racial civil rights.  I want to talk about a rich person’s responsibility to the economically depressed.  I want to talk about the best place for a senior when surrounded with young people, young legs, young minds and new ideas.  I want to talk about straight allies and their fundamental necessity in the LGBT movement. 

Most of what I have learned on this subject is from Robert Greenleaf and Margaret Wheatley.  The finest leader I have read about is Leo in Hesse’s Journey to the East.  He meets a group of western pilgrims and builds them a fire, cooks their food, arranges their passage through the Himalayas while never mentioning that he is the Abbott they are searching for at the monastery which is their final destination on their treacherous trip.  They think he is their servant, their Sherpa, their inferior and all the while they are traveling; warm and safe.  They are becoming independent and Leo knows that his invisibility is integral to their mutual success.

I think Malcolm X is another powerful example.  He did not want privileged white people anywhere near his movement until he circumambulated the Great Mosque seven times, found his own higher self and, then, considered the place of blue-eyed people.  And we have to see that Branch Rickey brought up Jackie Robinson but Robinson ran the bases.  I believe that HRC should have a straight ally on their Board of Directors because there is no movement without expansion out of our queer ghetto but the majority, the leaders must be queer.

All of this seems to me to be a worthy conversation.  It would be a worthy conversation for anyone who is interested in the matrix of domination, who cares about the empowerment of the disenfranchised, certainly anyone who has studied The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Not only is this a conversation that the current circumstances could benefit from but our intersected futures as well.  Instead of keeping the conversation so puny as to be about one human this could have been about the physics of change. 

 Oh I have opinions about Hugo’s past, his teaching, his writing, his devotees.  As a member of Alanon for almost 40 years, I have opinions about addiction.  I have a boatload of opinions about rape culture, violence against women and men, about the mis/use of the word feminism.  However, what I really care about is the rising of the oppressed which will release the oppressor from our shared cycle ~ advancing all of society.  Hugo and you and I are just a few players who have a lot to do that is way beyond personal, beyond name-calling, beyond defenders v. attackers.

The MOVEMENT needs us to prioritize and study leadership.  Settle for nothing less.  Learn to build your own fire, to travel your road and pave it wide enough for all of us.  These two pictures are all I have to say about this individual controversy ~ now I gotta get back to work.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mayor

 Every year around this time my thoughts turn to Harvey Milk and the Briggs Initiative.  In those years many queer people only met in homes, in very discrete bars often on a dark alley, or in safe closed meetings. I remember that the queer AA meetings were the only place where you could meet where alcohol was not the lynch pin.  Lipstick dykes met at dinner parties and plaid flannel dykes met at The Women’s Building; readers spent hours at Sisterhood Bookstore just to be near the tribe without caution.  Holly Near sang our songs, Rita Mae Brown wrote our stories and there was the faintest whisper, out in the distance, that one day we could find one another without risk. 

There was a frail suggestion that queer people might be seen as fully developed, multi-faceted people who were capable of caring for far more than just the gay agenda. The elections of Elaine Noble (1975) and Harvey Milk (1978) were beacons of light for those of us who wanted to live and work openly in the world.  Now there were known homosexuals in state and city legislatures voting on budgets, education, housing ~ for all people in their districts.   

Then along came John Briggs, a California State Senator, who got traction on the unsubstantiated idea that queers teaching kids would make children queer.  It was a shocking time, suggesting that teachers would be outed, not just from their jobs but to their families, to their landlords, to their churches. Frankly, I don’t think anyone believed him, per se, but it was a blatant attempt to tell queers to get back in the closet, that society will not tolerate integration.  Of course, activists know that the opposite actually happens when confronted with such a proposal  and so the 1978 Pro6 6, calling for the firing of teachers who were believed to be homosexual, actually threw us out of our privacy and into meeting halls. 

You would be wrong to think that Prop 6 had anything to do with Harvey Milk directly, except by default, as he was the crowned BMOC homosexual in CA as he was a public figure and a politician.  You would have been more apt to find him working with labor unions, with senior citizens, with community organizers, planning street fairs or in his camera shop ~ home to everything from the DOB to local teamsters.  He was not a beloved figure by the gay inc. of his day; then call “The Machine.”  He was an everyman; loving neighbors, kids, the circus, public transportation and changing society to be open to all diversities.  Let there be no mistake, he was the Mayor of Castro, not the mayor of queerville.  Ascension to prominence as a queer was not his mission and not achieved in his life time; that path was too narrow for Harvey.  His vision was freedom for everyone not the construction of a queer ghetto. 

I have The Times of Harvey Milk on my TIVO, my ipad & my iphone.  I am not a fan because he was gay.  I am not a fan because he was assassinated and declared a martyr for LGBT.  I am a fan because he was the epitome of the most dangerous activist on earth; he wanted everyone to have freedom and liberty, a fine job with a fair wage, and a safe place to call home.  His world would have been my idea of community where all its inhabitants could be who they are with no fear of reprisal. 

When I am fortunate to be asked to speak about Equality, I often leave a little homework.  I tell people to watch The Times of Harvey Milk and then to watch the movie, Milk; asking what is the difference between the two portrayals of Harvey Milk.  For me it is in the difference that you really meet him, see him, get an idea of who he was.  He was my Mayor; your Mayor; a Mayor for men, for women, for kids, for Italians, for Teamsters, for Catholics, for seniors and more. His neighborhood would have been a place where we would all be saying, Howdy Neighbor.  Happy Birthday, Mr. Mayor.  You are so very missed.

Rep. Maloney to Introduce the ERA into the 112th!

 New York, NY – On Monday, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) will be joined by Lilly Ledbetter and women leaders in declaring that the House leadership’s continuing war on women has gone too far and that it’s past time to make clear that the Constitution guarantees equal rights to women.  Accordingly, Maloney will announce her plans to reintroduce the Equal Rights Amendment.   Lilly Ledbetter's historic fight to simply receive equal pay for equal work put a spotlight on the substantial economic damage that sex-based discrimination has caused women in the labor force.   The Supreme Court decision in her case made it clear that activist, conservative judges can overturn decades of precedent and laws protecting women from discrimination.

Earlier this year, Justice Scalia opined that the 14^th Amendment guarantee of equal protection does not apply to sex discrimination.  His comments alone make a powerful, compelling argument that a Constitutional amendment is needed to protect women from discrimination.   A Constitutional amendment would be an unassailable guarantee of equality and a symbol that attitudes toward women have changed.

WHAT:  News conference to announce the re-introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment, also known as the Women’s Equality Amendment.

WHEN:           Monday, May 23^rd      10:30am

WHERE:         Pace University Midtown Center, 551 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor, Room 814, videoconference center

Activists Throw a Happy Fizzie Party

Activists are just plain folk who add a dash of carbonation to society.  Within the Women's Movement, it is any one from a sixth grader presenting her science project on Sally Ride, to Lily Ledbetter taking it to court, to demonstrators risking arrest outside of a women's health clinic.  In the LGBT movement it is a kid who doesn't go along with a joke using the words, "that's so gay," to Log Cabin people testing the justice of DADT, to people walking across America.  An activist is anyone who steps off the curb of convention and takes a chance in the context of their lives.

In 45 years I have known many activists.  Some are brilliant, patient, steadfast and plot the long distance.  Some are headstrong, narrow-minded, prefer risk.  Some have carried the oppression of their tribe to their own personal breaking point and just want relief.  Personally I am a fan of them all.  I really adore the crazy ones who push the bands of convention and make room for everyone else to make their next move.

Non-violent direct action activists take a lot of heat.  Obviously the mainstream has no idea what would inspire them but the real pain happens when tribe members rise up in opposition.  Over the last year to hear the more conservative LGBT organizations question the tactics of getEQUAL is maddening.  I want to tell them that they don't have to agree, don't have to promote but, at the very least, they need to understand that the loony tune people who arrive by land, air and sea; who carry handcuffs, who fast are actually expanding the limits of social convention.  It just might be easier to talk openly at dinner about being gay after 5 people face arrest at the White House.  

I am privileged to be hosting the Dallas premiere of March On; February 24, 7 PM.  Dallas is the home of the director, Laura McFerrin and her family, and several of the people who made the National Equality March possible.  Less than a year after the march itself; the documentary, March On both debuted at the Austin LGBT Film Festival and began winning awards. Shown in Los Angeles and New York City, Washinton DC and San Francisco, March On is just beginning to set hearts on fire for the American Equality Movment. 

In addition to the magic of March On itself, it is inspiring to show it while raising funds for local and nation equality organizations. It has raised funds for the LGBT Center in San Francisco and New York Marriage Equality.  The Dallas screening is a fundrasier for getEQUAL, our real convention breakers who demand national attention through their relentless non-violent direct action for civil rights. 

Here is your opportunity to be a part of the March On legacy, support getEQUAL and advance the Equality Movement.  Please consider donating today and join in the March to Equality.
 
SPONSOR LEVELS:  
Rainbow   $2,500
Red          $2.000
Orange     $1,500
Yellow      $1,000
Green         $500
Blue            $250
Violet         $100

All Donations are tax deductable.

ONLINE DONATIONS http://getequal.org/marchon

MAIL DONATIONS
Check made out to getEQUAL Action to:
Heather Cronk
c/o GetEQUAL Action
6304 46th Avenue
Riverdale, MD 20737
     
Thank you for your donation; you make it possible that this is NOT a ticketed event.
Everyone is welcome.  See you in Dallas!

Its a Solstice Miracle ~ Thanks to a Lot of Heavy Lifting

Apparently I finally have something in common with Rachel Maddow as I, too, did not think that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell would happen in the lame duck session of the 111th Congress.  Last night I set my alarm for 5:45 AM and woke up to watch the Commander in Chief sign into law the commitment to fully repeal DADT within a reasonable amount of time.

The room was full of amazing men and women who have served in the military and/or served in the equality movement.  I am so very happy that Robin McGehee, of getEQUAL, and her son, Sebastian were there.  It seems to me that Robin has always made it clear that she works tirelessly because of her children.  Taking her son to the White House, in his new suit, means so much to her and to many of us who believe that risking arrest, publicly rocking the boat and making noise is integral to making social change.  She went in the front door along with all the polite people who demonstrated patience, elegance, fine dining, fund raising and legislative doggedness.  She was not asked to come the next day, to see an assistant and offered a gesture, rather it was full citizenship. BRAVA.

If you follow the tweets of Lt Dan Choi, you would know that he invited, as his guest, Autumn Sandeen.  She is a brave, outspoken, passionate woman who is out and proud about her being a Trans woman.  You saw her standing at the White House Fence, handcuffed.  If you have not read about her experience being arrested, you should definitely look at her writing at Pam's House Blend. She is very generous with her life stories, sharing the specific problems society foists on trans people.  

The picture above is something many of us dreamed of but wondered if it would ever happen.  Lt Choi asked Senator Reid to hold his West Point ring until DADT was repealed.  Today, December 22, 2010, Dan got his ring back.  Nothing makes me happier than this photo and all that it represents. 

It makes me wonder what the women in 1919 felt like, when they knew they would be able to vote in the next election.  It makes me feel cautious that equality activists, working over these last several years since the overt failure of marriage equality in California, will think that two years is a reasonable amount of time to expect results. This is a miracle. From Stonewall to now, just over 50 years, is a lightening round to see a diverse community rise up, call for change and the federal legislation to respond. 

Maybe things are going to go faster, as fast as the speed of light traveling on an electronic highway.  I sure hope so. Its a wonderful day, a miraculous day.  I hope we see many more miracles.  We deserve miracles.  Lets just expect miracles.