By MURPHY – Posted on October 20th, 2009 www.thevitalvoice.com

CHICAGO — Illinois’ statewide gay and lesbian civil rights organization praised the introduction of a bill to recognize same-sex marriage in the state of Illinois. A similar bill has been in the Illinois House since 2007.

“The time for equality in the Land of Lincoln is now,” said Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive officer of Equality Illinois. “We look forward to working with the sponsors of this bill to ensure that same-sex relationships are recognized and protected in Illinois.”

State Senator Heather Steans (D-Edgewater) is the sponsor of the “Equal Marriage Act” in the Illinois Senate. State Representative Greg Harris has a similar bill in the Illinois House.

“Lesbian and gay couples should be getting the same rights as me and my husband”, Steans said.

“This is about a civil right, plain and simple,” said Cherkasov said. “A state that has a civil institution of marriage – with its plethora of benefits, rights and responsibilities – cannot exclude from that institution an entire class of citizens.”

Equality Illinois was founded in 1991 to secure, protect and defend the basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Illinoisans. One of the main priorities of the organization is legal recognition and protection of same-sex couples.

- via The Columbian Our Readers Views, 10/19/2009 www.thecolumbian.com

Senior citizens benefit from new law

As chair of the Advisory Council for the Southwest Washington Agency on Aging and Disabilities, I am particularly concerned about all matters that pertain to Washington’s senior citizens. The portion of Referendum 71 that deals with those of us 62 and older who are not same-sex couples but wish to have a commitment to our partners and which would enable rights (now denied) such as hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights should there be no will, medical decision access, and the right to use sick leave to care for one another, seldom come to the front in the discussions submitted to this paper.

While I’m not denigrating the importance of the benefits that same sex-couples will receive, I don’t want voters to ignore the senior domestic partners who are being denied the right to act in each other’s best interests. In other words, I urge voters to vote “yes” on this referendum.

Maggie Culbertson

Battle Ground

- via Equality Across America, 10/14/2009

As many as 200,000 people marched for LGBT rights in Washington, DC, this past Sunday in a bold attempt to reinvigorate the vision and strategy of the LGBT movement. Yet despite the impressive turnout–a surprise to the organizers and certainly to the march’s critics–and despite the dazzling sun, the sea of rainbow flags and rousing speeches delivered in front of the Capitol, the most inspiring thing about the National Equality March (NEM) this weekend was not the march itself. It was instead the energy, the impatience, the vision and the leadership bubbling up in the strategy and activist events surrounding the march that opened my eyes to the potential significance of the changes under way within the LGBT community.

Photo provided by Eric Politzer

From its inception in a blog post just five months ago by veteran gay rights campaigner and antiwar activist David Mixner, to its grassroots organizing strategy and shoe-string budget, to its powerful new message demanding nothing less than full equality at the federal level, the movement being built around the march has defied the conventional rules and wisdoms of the established LGBT movement. For Mixner, this is “the coming of age of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement,” the emergence of a new generation of grassroots activists, impatient for change and determined to bring it about.

While Mixner’s call to action was taken up by fellow seasoned campaigner Cleve Jones, the drive behind the NEM and Equality Across America, the organization created to plan the march and turn momentum into action, comes from a new generation of activists and organizers. Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, aged 27 and 36, spearheaded the organizational effort. Neither had any experience of national organizing before the march, and they had limited connections to established national organizations. According to Nicole Murray-Ramirez–the only gay activist to have served in a national capacity with all four previous LGBT marches on Washington and one of three national co-chairs of this one–the youthfulness of the NEM’s organizing committee is unprecedented: “This weekend…is truly handing the torch on,” he observed. Wayne Ting, a 25-year-old LGBT activist and NEM organizer, puts this down in large part to Proposition 8, the citizen-initiated ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage in California after the state’s Supreme Court had ruled it legal, the “first time in our generation that we saw something move backwards.”

Over the weekend, I spoke with 17-year-old James Neiley, a high school student from Vermont and one of the youngest members of the NEM’s steering committee, about his determination to get his “slice of the American dream,” and with Chloe Noble, another NEM organizer who is walking 6,000 miles across the country to raise awareness of LGBT youth homelessness, about her faith in a new generation of “young, powerful and passionate activists.” I listened to Cleve Jones, protégé of Harvey Milk and tireless activist for gay rights since the 1970s, deliver an impassioned speech to an overflowing crowd at Busboys and Poets restaurant and bookstore, gracefully but forcefully handing the torch to a new generation, in which he has profound confidence. And I witnessed the frustration, even rage, of protesters outside the Human Rights Campaign’s Annual National Dinner, where President Obama was about to speak to an appreciative black-tie crowd–protesters who could wait no longer for reforms to protect them in their jobs and in the streets, to allow them to serve their country in the military, and to grant them equality in marriage.

So by the time I joined around 200,000 other marchers Sunday, who had traveled from across the country, each with their own stories, concerns and priorities, yet united by a simple but radical demand for full civil equality in all fifty states, I had some confidence that, even if this new vision and determination had not yet penetrated the Lady Gaga-loving crowd, the march would lead to more than the “emotional release” with which critics sought to dismiss it. The leaders spearheading Equality Across America have become increasingly alienated from the established LGBT advocacy groups. McGehee’s experience of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LBGT advocacy group and host to Obama on the eve of the march, was that an “HRC representative would come in to town, and we’d meet over lunch, and never see him again.” Equality Across America, on the other hand, promises to “build a national grassroots network,” comprised of “Action Teams” in all 435 Congressional districts to lobby their representatives for full civil equality at the federal level. Where HRC also lobbies for federal-level change, organizers I spoke to complained of HRC’s detachment from the urgency felt at the grassroots, and voiced a perception that in its pursuit of access to political leaders (where their success is notable) HRC has sold the movement short.

Equality Across America takes a dim view of state-level victories, calling them “imperfect and impermanent.” The group points out that, considering marriage alone, over 1,000 rights and benefits are granted at the federal level (in addition to those rights granted on the state level) and notes the vulnerability of marriage rights won on the state level, such as in California. For strategy Cleve Jones looks back to 1963, and a parallel moment in which “great heroes of the historic civil rights movement” concluded that while they “would certainly have to continue to fight in places with names like Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery, they would have to set their sights on Washington, DC.” While they fear that Obama is stepping back from the very promises he reiterated to the HRC on Saturday night, these young activists have not lost hope, and they are determined to push Obama with all their might.

While this strategy resonates with the grassroots and younger activists, the reaction from existing state campaigns and national organizations has ranged from loaded silence to outright anger. State campaigners, especially in Washington, DC, and Maine, where referendums will soon be held on whether to reverse expanded rights for same-sex couples, accused organizers of failing to consult the wider movement and taking time and resources away from crucial state battles where victory is more likely. HRC and other national organizations such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were slow to endorse the campaign, and even then provided only minimal support. In a recent letter to members, Joe Solmonese, head of HRC, called for patience, offering these encouraging words: “It’s not January 19, 2017 [the date when Obama's hypothetical second term would end].” At the march itself, activists carrying an HRC banner seemed to have been instructed not to speak to journalists, deferring all questions for the organization to the organization’s communications staff. As the march approached, a slew of organizations offered late endorsements. Yet vocal critics of the march remain, such as Barney Frank, who on Friday declared the march “a waste of time at best,” adding, “The only thing they’re going to be putting pressure on is the grass.” These remarks stoked the flames of grassroots dissatisfaction with the LGBT establishment, provoking a volley of public rebukes. As Robin McGehee put it to the crowds gathered in front of the capitol, “You may say that marches don’t matter. I say that you are out of touch in the seat of power you are clearly enjoying.”

The movement building around the NEM has the potential to transform not only the message of LGBT rights, but its methods of organizing. The march, organized on a tiny budget, with only one paid staff member (who received the minimum wage) but a steering committee of over 100 unpaid volunteers, relied heavily on Facebook, Twitter, other social networking sites and blogs. Mixner said this was “probably the first Internet march that I’ve ever seen” with “no central office, no central staff…no phone number that you can call.” The total cost was under $250,000, “a fraction of the budget of any of the past marches,” says Williams. Organizers neither sought out nor accepted any corporate sponsorship. “Every penny…came from individual donors who believe in us.” And no funding was received from national LGBT organizations: “They didn’t offer and we didn’t ask.”

Unlike previous LGBT marches on Washington, the NEM did not target any single piece of legislation. Rather than organizing to march, they were marching to organize. To this end at least fifty-seven events were organized over the weekend, from strategy sessions, to grassroots organizing workshops and networking, to protests and vigils on various issues. Youth and student groups were especially prominent. At the “Impact: Speak Out Event” at Gallaudet University young LGBT activists heard from Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, communicated with their deaf peers, and shared their common concerns about safety and bullying at schools, about LGBT youth homelessness and about high suicide rates among the community. While marriage was a concern for some, others pointed to employment and housing discrimination and immigration as priorities over marriage. The event ended with a brief training session, followed by a “This Is What Equality Looks Like!” flashmob, organized via a text messaging system, where over a hundred young activists froze in Union Square station for about three minutes, before marching to the Capitol.

Around the same time a student protest had been organized against “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy banning LGBT people from serving openly in the military. David Valk, a recent graduate of UCLA and National Student Outreach Coordinator for the NEM, told me that the demonstration had been unexpectedly powerful: hundreds of protesters, alerted by text message, gathered at the Washington Monument and covered their mouths with duct tape for what was to be a silent protest. But to the organizers’ surprise, the protesters spontaneously started clapping–as Valk put it, “They refuse to be silenced.” As they marched past the White House, protestors ripped the tape from their mouths, pointed megaphones in the president’s direction and demanded an end to “don’t ask, don’t tell” before joining a rally of 500 to 1,000 people at George Washington University, where freshman Todd Belok was dismissed from the National Reserve Officers Training Corps earlier this year after he was seen kissing his boyfriend.

Questions remain about how to sustain the momentum from Sunday’s march. The immediate next step is a call to action, supported by an online Organizers Toolkit, to organize mobilization meetings in every Congressional district during the first week of November. The organizational weight of the HRC and other campaigns is unlikely to be thrown behind the Equality Across America campaign. As Jones suggested, many people “are deeply invested in pursuing…this older strategy” of piecemeal, state-focused reform. And while netroots activism clearly worked for the march, it’s less clear whether it can sustain targeted local activism. Williams acknowledged that they didn’t yet have answers to these “hard questions…about infrastructure” and expressed hope that “we’ll be able to work with the national organizations in the future.” Similarly, while the power of the message comes from its ambition and breadth, it’s unclear at what level and on which policies local groups should focus their efforts. Williams favors an “omnibus bill, which will be a package of legislation passed together, and/or an amendment to the Civil Rights Act to include LGBT people.” He declined to expand on this ambitious proposal, but it’s unclear that any member of Congress is interested in introducing an omnibus piece of legislation.

The organizers of the National Equality March, and of Equality Across America, clearly have a lot of work to do if they are to turn their success on Sunday into a sustained political movement. Whether their organizational strategies will be appropriate to this new task, and whether the activism of the leadership reached the crowds in Washington, remains to be seen. Yet at the very least the organizers of the NEM have altered the terms of debate. They have set out an inspiring new vision as only a new generation could have done, taking the LGBT movement beyond the dark days of the struggle against HIV/AIDS, standing on the shoulders of the giants of the civil rights movement, to catch sight of a goal that may be closer than you think: “Equal protection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.”

To watch the video, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfRXA6YFcFg

-By The Associated Press
10.16.2009

(Jackson, Miss.) Everyone at Wesson Attendance Center knows 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis is gay because she’s never tried to hide it.

But when Sturgis – an honor student, trumpet player and goalie on the school’s soccer team – wanted her senior photograph in a tuxedo used in the 2009-10 yearbook, school officials balked. Traditionally, female students dress in drapes and males wear tuxedos.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has gotten involved, issuing a demand letter to Principal Ronald Greer to publish the picture of Sturgis in the tuxedo. The ACLU says it’s giving the school until Oct. 23 to respond before pursuing court action, said Kristy L. Bennett, the ACLU’s legal director.

A secretary for Greer referred questions to Copiah County Schools Superintendent Rickey Clopton, who declined to comment on Thursday.

Sturgis said she should get to decide how she looks in the senior photo.

“I feel like I’m not important, that the school is dismissing who I am as a gay student and that they don’t even care about me. All I want is to be able to be me, and to be included in the yearbook,” Sturgis said in a statement.

Veronica Rodriguez, 47, said school officials are trying to force her daughter – who doesn’t even own a dress – to appear more feminine.

“The tux is who she is. She wears boys’ clothes. She’s athletic. She’s gay. She’s not feminine,” said Rodriguez during an interview Thursday at the ACLU office.

Rodriguez said Sturgis took her pictures over the summer instead of with the other students last year, but she used the same studio.

In August, Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school stating that only boys could wear tuxedos. Rodriguez said she met with assistant Superintendent Ronald Holloway who told her he didn’t see regulations about the issue in the student handbook.

But when she talked with Greer, she said he told her it was his “conviction” that Sturgis wouldn’t appear in the yearbook in a tuxedo.

Bennett said the teenager’s constitutional rights are being violated. Bennett said similar cases, including same-sex prom couples and girls wearing tuxedos to proms, have been successfully challenged in court in other states. ACLU officials said they were unaware of any other constitutional disputes involving gay teens at Mississippi schools.

“You can’t discriminate against somebody because they’re not masculine enough or because they’re not feminine enough. She’s making an expression of her sexual orientation through this picture and that invokes First Amendment protection,” Bennett said.

There’s no state policy that deals with the yearbook photo issue, said state Department of Education spokesman Pete Smith.

The deadline for the photo to be accepted for the yearbook was Sept. 30. But advertisements for the publication are still being taken so Sturgis has time for her photo to be included, Bennett said.

Sturgis lives with her grandparents in Wesson, a town of about 1,700 founded during the Civil War in southwest Mississippi. The town’s Web site said residents “pride ourselves on our quiet way of life.”

- Published from www.towelroad.com

King

Gay-hating Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has corralled in 52 House Republicans to sign on to a letter to Obama requesting that the President fire Safe Schools czar Kevin Jennings.

Writes King in the letter:

As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools-an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children. As evidence of this, Mr. Jennings wrote the foreword for a book titled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling. Throughout his career, Mr. Jennings has made it his mission to establish special protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students to the exclusion of all other students. The totality of Mr. Jennings’ career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.

Jennings

Equally troubling is Mr. Jennings’ self-described history of ignoring the sexual abuse of a child. In his book, One Teacher in Ten, Mr. Jennings recounts a 15-year old student confiding in him that he had a sexual relationship with a much older man. Mr. Jennings’ only response was to ask if the underage boy used a condom. As a mandatory reporter, Mr. Jennings was required by law to report child abuse, including sex crimes. Mr. Jennings cannot serve as the “safe schools” czar when his record demonstrates a willingness to overlook the sexual abuse of a child.

You can read the full letter here: http://steveking.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Newsroom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=58ebad3e-19b9-b4b1-1225-f487b90bcc7f&Region_id=&Issue_id=

King continues to repeat the thoroughly debunked claims about Jennings’ counseling interaction with the student, and the student has even written a letter defending him.

Hopefully, the administration, which has so far defended Jennings against this anti-gay witch hunt, will continue to stand by him.

The Hill reports: “Openly gay senior Democratic Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.) called the effort a way for ‘anti-gay’ lawmakers to keep that issue at the forefront. ‘This is just an effort to exploit anti-gay feeling — they have this anti-gay view that they understand is becoming less and less popular with the public,’ Frank told The Hill on Thursday.”

The wingnuts don’t want to see any gay man in this position, much less one who has spent the better part of 20 years dedicating himself to teaching tolerance in the nation’s schools. It’s ironic that this is just a grown-up form of the anti-LGBT bullying Jennings has devoted his life to ending. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly apparent that certain members of the GOP will never stop acting like children.

The list of Republicans who have signed on to the letter, AFTER THE JUMP…

Alexander
Aderholt
Akin
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Bartlett
Barton
Boozman
Broun
Brown, H.
Carter
Chaffetz
Coffman
Cole
Conaway
Davis, Geoff
Fallin
Fleming
Foxx
Franks
Garrett
Gingrey
Gohmert
Hunter
Issa
Jordan
Lamborn
Latta
Luetkemeyer
Marchant
McClintock
McHenry
McKeon
McMorris
Mica
Miller, J.
Myrick
Neugebauer
Olson, P.
Pence
Pitts
Posey
Rogers (AL)
Rooney
Ryan, Paul
Shuster
Smith, C
Smith, L.
Wamp
Westmoreland
Jones, Walter

Real Progress Means Voting Every Race and Issue
As a voter committed to real progress, it is extremely important that you vote in every race and measure on your ballot. The one you skip could be the one that keeps us from achieving high-quality health care for all, excellence in education, real security for our most vulnerable neighbors or a healthier environment.

The Progressive Voters Guide identifies the candidates with the most progressive track records and the ballot measure positions that will protect or promote progress in Washington. In races where track records and endorsements support a clear recommendation for which candidate will do the strongest and most effective job of representing progressive values, our guide highlights the recommended candidate. In other races we offer highlights and information about multiple candidates.

Together we can create a state committed to real progress, by voting for progress on every race and measure by November 3rd.

http://progressivevotersguide.com/2009/washington/?src=fusemail

_ The Daily Evergreen, 10/15/2009

Editor:

I find it shocking that in the United States, a country that has seen so much progress in civil rights, there is such a large group of people that will stop at nothing to deny the rights of same-sex couples. They say it is because they want to protect marriage, but the resistance to Referendum 71 shows us it goes much deeper than that. Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed articulated it the best when he said, “This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities and obligations of registered domestic partners and their families to include all rights, responsibilities and obligations granted by or imposed by state law on married couples and their families.” So same-sex couples would still not be able to marry under state law, but they would still be able to have the same rights as married couples. To deny them the ability to marry under state law is one thing, but to deny them the same rights as a married couple shows that the opposition against R-71 isn’t trying to protect marriage like they say they are. They are on a mission of discrimination to deny same-sex couples any rights at all. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Even Jesus says not to discriminate against others, however, those opposing R-71 are doing just that. This must be another example of listening to Jesus only when what he says furthers an agenda.

Derek Held
junior
computer science

- www.dykedramaproductions.blogspot.com

My wife and I attended the National Equality March in DC last weekend. We met new friends, marched for hours and miles, and loved every minute of it. Until the march was over… After the march we were walking down Constitution Ave (of all places!) and encountered a group of young, black skateboarders, girls and guys. As we approached the statue they were skating around we saw a huge milk jug filled with what looked like urine being chucked into a group of protesters walking home from the march. We were in shock! Immediately we asked who threw the jug and one girl, about 13 or 14 years old came forward and said “You got a problem?” and I said, “Yes, I do! Why would you do that??” She yelled in my face with venomous hate and indifference, “Because you’re a faggot and a bitch!” When she said faggot I literally stepped back with the force of the word. I wanted to say, “It’s DYKE honey. Get it right.” But what I said was, “What?!?” “You’re BLACK.” She answered, “So what? I don’t care!” As she stepped closer she started to raise her skateboard as if to hit me. I said, “You’re great-great-grandparents were probably slaves! How could you show such ignorance and disrespect to someone who is different then you?! Do you think they’d be proud of you?” Of course, at the mention of the word slave she came forward and started getting physical with us. My wife stepped in between me and her to try to shield me from the possible blows. She was getting in my face and then her friends jumped in too and they started to surround us, skateboards raised. The words faggot and racist and go to hell were being shouted at us from numerous directions. She said, “Did you just call me a slave? Did you just call me a nigger?” I was appalled. “What? Hell no! Why would I do that? I have NOH8 tattooed on my face! I just came from an EQUALITY march where I marched with all different kinds of people, all different colors, from all walks of life!” They continued to taunt me with the N word and started calling me a racist.

At this point, a few marchers who had been walking by and were the targets of the jug flying at them, jumped in and tried to separate us. I was crying hysterically and still trying to “reason” with them. The more we retreated, the closer and more angry the mob of kids got. I got hit in the shoulder with the girl’s skateboard. My wife was trying to guard me from the crowd. A group of other skateboarders just sat there and watched and laughed. I screamed, “I’M NOT A RACIST! My parents marched with Martin Luther King for god’s sakes! My grandparents are from AFRICA!” Calling me a racist upset me more than her calling me a faggot. I’m so far from racist that it’s ridiculous. I screamed, “Martin Luther King is probably rolling over in his grave right now!” My stomach hurt. I couldn’t stop crying. How could this little girl, who’s BLACK, be saying such ugly and hurtful things!? How could someone who doesn’t even KNOW me think she does? Why would she try to turn it around on herself when she was the one who threw things at people and called me names? My wife started screaming, “I need a cop! I need a cop!” A couple of security guards walked over. Where were they this whole time? Why didn’t they get involved? I screamed for them to get the police. Luckily for us there were about 8 police cars just sitting right down the street from us because of the march. I walked over to one of the cars and started to plead for help. I turned around and shouted at the girl, “I’m getting the cops!” Her and her friends and packed up their stuff and were standing near the edge of the scene. She screamed back, “Good! Do it! I don’t care!” As I was trying to explain to the cop what happened, they all hopped on their skateboards and took off around the side of the building. The cop put out an alert over his radio to try to have them caught around the other side.

While some friendly marchers were trying to help me calm down so I could tell the cops what happened, some other cops were going after the girls. Another skateboarder that was not involved had been filming some of it. The cops went over to look at the footage, but all they caught was the end where we were just screaming at each other. After taking our statements and talking to witnesses, DC Metro put us in the back of a cruiser to take us around to the other side so we could identify the kids who were caught. We drove over and the police had us wait for awhile in the car and then they walked the girl down the street so we could take a look and let them know if she was the perpetrator. I said she was and she was immediately handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. The other kids were questioned, but we were in the car and separate from them so I’m not sure what was said. One of the other girls involved started screaming from across the parking lot “You’re a fucking liar!” and some other things I couldn’t hear.

We were interviewed by a detective and then the very kind officer whose cruiser we were in offered to take us back to where we were picked up. My wife pleaded with him to not drop us off near where the kids were let go so we wouldn’t be jumped again. He agreed that was a bad idea and ended up pulling over a taxi and putting us directly in it so we could return to our hotel. My stomach was a ball of knots and nerves. I felt sick. I couldn’t stop crying. I’m a lesbian, Jewish woman and I’ve never personally encountered that kind of hatred before with the exception of when I was in Poland, where a group of Neo-Nazi’s goose-stepped through my Jewish youth group on the way to synagogue shouting that Hitler didn’t finish his job and “Go back to Auschwitz!” But we were in a America! And she was part of an historically discriminated against minority group! What kind of world do we live in? What is WRONG with people? How can a child- a minority- perpetrate such hatred and ignorance towards someone else? Where did she learn those lessons? Her parents? TV? Movies? Music? School? Her friends? How could she not see the despicable irony of the situation? It would have been very easy for me to yell the N word at her. But I didn’t. Because I know that it is much more than a word and so full of hate. More hateful than I have ever felt towards anyone for any reason. Even her.

She spent the night in jail and was arraigned the next morning. I am currently waiting for more information on if and when there will be a trial. The detective asked if I was going to return to DC, since I live in Los Angeles, to prosecute her in court. I said I absolutely would- even if it cost me my last penny. No one should think they can behave that way and say those things and get away with it. I realize I won’t “teach her a lesson” really, since she doesn’t care anyway and maybe it’s too late, but I wanted her to think twice before she threw things, hit someone or called someone a faggot again. I wanted her to know there are consequences for her actions. I’m telling my story because people need to hear it. And people need to know that even though they think we’ve come a long way, we haven’t come far enough. When our President exhibits homophobic behavior and doesn’t stand up to discrimination even though he’s been discriminated against himself, it teaches a lesson to young people who look up to him.

What I won’t forget is the most beautiful black woman marcher who came up to me in the midst of it all as I was hysterical and said, “Will you give me a hug?” and we did. We hugged for a few minutes. I cried on her shoulder. She told me that my truth is my truth and no one can take that from me. She said we have to be strong. She said she loved me. Thank you for that wherever you are. This kind of stuff trickles down. I’m asking you to keep following the story on my blog so I can update you on the situation and please pass it along to your friends and family so they too can know that even in 2009, with a black president, in a northern state, on any ordinary day, a group of people are still being discriminated against. On the streets. In the polling booths. At home. And if and when we have to return to DC for a trial, I hope you can support us and help us. Maybe with a small donation or with helping us spread our story on Facebook, Twitter, email and word of mouth. No one should ever go through what we did. I realize we are luckier than most. Had we been completely alone on a deserted street with no police nearby, our skulls probably would have been bashed in with skateboards. I have no doubt of that. And the fact that we were lucky means that I get to tell our story and hopefully make people realize that even though some things have changed, some things remain painfully the same.

Rakefet Abergel is an actress and business owner in LA. She’s married to a woman and staying that way.