Why are we allowing the bigots to have a seat at the table?

Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

Back in the fall of 1997, I was walking down the street (3rd Avenue, approaching Vine) in Seattle and I saw two me holding hands. It made me feel good inside that they were comfortable enough with themselves and their city to openly display the affection for each other that straight people assume. As I was walking, smile on my face, I was approached by a man not much older than me who said, "That's disgusting."

"What do you mean?"

"I am a Christian and the Bible tells me that is wrong."

"The Bible also says, 'Judge not lest ye be judged'."

At this point, he hit me in the shoulder and took off.

My boss at the time told me that she was surprised I wasn't shot.

Why am I recalling this particular anecdote right now?

(Isn't it obvious?)

People (Some, not all) of certain orthodox or fundamentalist Christianist belief will often use The Bible as a buffet of bigotry, picking and choosing which rules to apply to the behavior of other people. The hypocrisy of this is not lost on me, or on most people who see the world in shades (as opposed to black and white), but the thing is...it is now being legislated.

As I am writing this, SSM has not come up for a vote in the NYS Senate. but there have been amendments added to the original bill to "protect" the interests of...well, let's call it accurately here...bigots. People are using "religion as a smokescreen to hide their intolerance, choosing to misstate the plain language of the bill and falsely claiming that it fails to protect religious practice".

The Senators and the interest groups who are demanding that intolerance be injected into what is a civil rights bill need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history.

I do not know is SSM will pass today. I do not think it will come up for a vote until the Senate reconvenes after the summer, but that is just a gut feeling, not based on anything more than ephemera.

It is sad though, isn't it? Fourteen years ago, I was punched in the shoulder. Today the Senate is willing (and ready) to metaphorically punch thousands of New Yorkers in the gut.

New York Abstains

Stories like this about today in the New York State Senate always makes me think about the below clip from 1776.

Lewis Morris: [as John Hancock is about to swat a fly] Mr. Secretary, New York abstains, courteously.
[Hancock raises his fly swatter at Morris, then draws back]
John Hancock: Mr. Morris,
[pause, then shouts]
John Hancock: WHAT IN HELL GOES ON IN NEW YORK?
Lewis Morris: I'm sorry Mr. President, but the simple fact is that our legislature has never sent us explicit instructions on anything!
John Hancock: NEVER?
[slams fly swatter onto his desk]
John Hancock: That's impossible!
Lewis Morris: Mr. President, have you ever been present at a meeting of the New York legislature?
[Hancock shakes his head "No"]
Lewis Morris: They speak very fast and very loud, and nobody listens to anybody else, with the result that nothing ever gets done.
[turns to the Congress as he returns to his seat]
Lewis Morris: I beg the Congress's pardon.
John Hancock: [grimly] My sympathies, Mr. Morris.

Transcript via IMDB

And TEA becomes an advocate

TEA just gave me a call.

He is writing a letter to President Obama and Governor Cuomo.

He was doing a packet from school about the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and had some questions about how laws are made. He asked his mother, who is good at this type of thing, and they talked about where laws come from and if something is right, why it isn't a law. His mother explained that sometimes it is difficult to convince large groups of people to agree on the same thing.

He then talked to his mother about the issue that was bothering him.

His mother helped him with the letter and then called me.

This is my best recollection of what he said, as my eyes were welling with tears and my heart was swelling with pride.

Dad, guess what I am doing! I am writing a letter to the President and the Governor because gay people should be allowed to get married. They shouldn't listen to the priests because Jesus and Martin Luther King died so all the world could be free. So that white people and black people and gay people could be happy. I am writing this letter because I want the President and the Governor to change the law...

Naturally, my pride was immense in my son.

Then I asked his mother how this came about. I was asking not because I thought that Ami prompted this as a project or because of his stance on this hot button issue (I wouldn't have had a problem with either of those.) but just because I wanted to know TEA's mindset when doing this.

His mother stated that TEA's ideas were sui generis in their inception and she did not prompt them.

So...what does this say?

This says that an eight year old can see through the bigotry of the various factions who fight the idea of marriage equality as a concept as abhorrent as terrorism. More to the point, it shows that my son has a better understanding on what it means to be an American than people like Carl Kruger, Joseph Addabbo, and (wait for it...) Ruben Diaz. (Remember, there were eight members of the Senate Democrats who voted against the Marriage Equality Bill in 2009. Yeah, three lost, one was expelled from the Senate, one chose not to run, and these three "Heroes" were re-elected.)

My eight year old son has more compassion for his fellow Americans than people like the Secretary of State, and former junior Senator from the Empire State, who has once again come out against Marriage Equality.

And my eight year old son has a better understanding about the teachings of Jesus than some local men of the cloth, who make the claim that "God hates."

TEA, you are my son and I will always be proud of you and love you, but it is moments like this that I am proud to be your father.

Keep writing those letters, keep fighting for what is right, even if it isn't popular, and keeping living with the belief that one person, even if they are eight, can make the world a better place.

Power to the People

Ohes Noes!

There has been a schism in the NYS Senate Democratic Conference!

NYS Senators Klein, Valesky, Savino, and Carlucci have left the Conference and have formed the Independent Democratic Conference.

Their reasons include Democratic mismanagement while the were in the majority over the past two years, a strong indictment of Sen. Sampson and (from Sen. Carlucci) returning politics to the people.

This is going to make for a really interesting day on a number of levels.

It Starts With "I Do"

New Yorkers,

Sign the  Petition at Marriage Equality New York

Thanks to Jody for the heads' up.