It's All About Me & The Democrats:
My Dad is getting a big laugh out of how I'm just discovering that the Democrats are a bunch of wimps when it comes to standing up and doing the right thing, even if it isn't the "popular" thing of the moment. I think I always knew this, but chose to stay in denial because it was easier that way. Others pointed out this reality a long time ago; I wanted to believe that when push came to shove they would stand up for us. But they don't. They hem, they haw, they do a dance that gives the bigots an opening.
Push is coming to shove in the form of amendments to state and federal constitutions that single out a group of people for discrimination. Can you believe this is happening in 2004? And now I am forced into a position of voting for people who won't stand up to bigotry because the alternative is worse. Funny I find myself getting upset with Deaniacs who are abandoning the Democrats, and here I am contemplating the same thing.
This is turning into a watershed issue for me, one that is tearing at my heart.
Truthfully, I didn't want it to be an issue. I wish that it would have flown under the radar; progress made in small but solid steps that would have cemented our rights before "the public" noticed. But, it did not. Too late to turn back. It is now an "issue", and with my tendency to lean towards black or white, do or die, nose on my face kind of right-now thinking, I want to pour gasoline on it and let it go, see where the chips fall. If we lose, we lose. But at least we put up a fight. All this equivocation is making me ill.
And I am afraid that the champions of liberalism will melt away with the snow, roll over once more, and take it up the "you know where" like they usually do.
Hard to fight for someone that won't do the same for you.
It might be much to ask in an election year that has huge implications for the future of this country. I realize this. But in a way, the fight for gay rights is the fight for all our rights. If we don't stand up to these people now, there is no telling what they will decide to "ammend" next. Next time, it could be you.