By The People: The Election of Barack Obama

Two posts in one day...crazy!

I just had to recommend the new documentary by Edward Norton called "By The People: The Election of Barack Obama". It was very well done and totally made me cry, again. (Seriously, I never used to cry, what is up with this??)

Edward Norton and his crew were given unprecedented access to the entire campaign, it shows the behind the scenes stuff we have never seen before. I especially loved the vigor and emotion from all of his young staffers around the country. Another cool moment? A glimpse into Obama's hotel room when the election was called for him and the reactions of all of his staff at that moment as well. (Including Plouffe, Axelrod, Favreau ect.)

It premiered on HBO last night, so catch it on re-runs if you didn't see it the first time around. Well worth it.

So my new resolution is to post more...

but I know that you have heard that before! To be honest, I used to post most of my blogs from work in any spare moment of downtime I could find. Now Blogger is blocked (as are all blogging sites) and I do not have the option anymore. When I get home from work the thought of blogging is usually the last thing on my mind!

My hope is to try to update this blog at least once or twice a week from now on, as there are many things in my crazy brain that are just dying to come out.

For now, all I will say is this: BOOOOOO Maine. Why is it that every time we take a step towards equal rights in this country it gets ripped right out of our hands? ::sigh::

On a lighter note, my sister turned 16 and my husband and I celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss. THREE YEARS. Holy crappola. That flew by.

And happy One Year since the day Obama was elected. He still has much to prove to all of us, but I will continue to hope that the change he promised will come. That is all we can do, right? (well besides call our senators and representatives ;) )



In posts to come: Our trip to LA with my sister, our anniversary trip to San Diego ect.



The Husband and Shannon outside of the Echo Park Time Travel Store aka 826LA (a writing workshop for inner-city kids)

Prop 8 Upheld :(

I figured this was coming but it still royally sucks. All I can say is 2010 here we come. We are not backing down until we have equality for ALL.

Harvey Milk Day

SB 572 Harvey Milk Day
This bill would require the governor proclaim
May 22 each year as Harvey Milk Day. It would encourage public schools and
educational institutions to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on that
date. Status: Introduced on February 27, 2009.
Lead Author: Senator Mark Leno Principal
Co-Authors: Senator Kehoe and Assembly Members Ammiano and John A.
Pérez
Sponsor: Equality California

Above is a bill that was introduced last month in CA. It is a repeat of a bill that was introduced last year, passed, but was vetoed by the Governator under immense pressure from the religious right. (Shame on him) They touted it as a "gay day" which was shameful. I guess they must think MLK day is a "black day" too. Ridiculous.

I am posting this here so that more people will be aware of this effort and so that we can put pressure on Arnold to not make the same mistake twice. Harvey Milk was a transformative political figure for many people, not just the GLBT community. He deserves this recognition.

Shame on You Michael Steele.

Yesterday Michael Steele was asked about Civil Unions for gay and lesbian couples. Here is his response:

Do you favor civil unions?" Gallagher asked:
STEELE: No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you crazy? No. Why would we backslide on a core, founding value of this country. I mean this isn't something that you just kind of like, "Oh well, today I feel, you know, loosey-goosey on marriage." I mean, this is a foundational principle of this country. It is a foundational principle of organized society. It isn't something that, you know, in America we decided, "Let's make it between a man and a woman; oh well now, let's change our mind and make it between anyone and anyone." No.

GALLAGHER: So no room even for a conversation about civil unions, in your
mind?

STEELE: What's the difference?
GALLAGHER: Well, you're not calling it marriage.
STEELE: Is it?
GALLAGHER: I don't know. I mean, I... I...

STEELE: I mean, like Sarah Palin said, you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.

GALLAGHER: Yeah yeah yeah, but the argument that Sean Penn is making, and I agree that this is, the squeaky wheel doesn't have to get the grease and there's not a state that says, we favor redefining marriage as anything other than one man and one woman. But there are a lot of people who say, "but yet, this country isn't a country that wants to discriminate against two people if they're in a committed relationship. We don't want to deny them benefits, we don't want to deny them opportunities."

STEELE: Ok, but wait a minute. Is it going to -- what is it? Is it going to you want the benefits or you want something else? If you want the benefits, there's a little thing called contract law, you've got power of attorney. There's a whole number of ways in which two individuals can care for each other and look out for each other without having to put the imprimatur of marriage on their forehead.

GALLAGHER: right right.

STEELE: So, I don't understand why you need to weaken an institution that is a foundational institution of not just America, of mankind. I mean this is something that as human beings, we have organized ourselves around. This thing called a family unit. This is how we've defined it. And, sure, things have changed over the years. And, sure, you know, gays adopt and all this other...but when you go to that foundational principle of marriage and you're now saying, "well, you know, we're going to backslide away from that." What are you saying as a society of people? What are you saying as human beings? I don't...I guess that's the question that we're going to debate, but all due respect to Sean Penn, I just, you know, I disagree with that view. I don't think there's hate in it. I don't think there's discrimination. It's just a core, foundational principle of our society that this what we believe and this is what we adhere to.

First off Mr. Steele, Palin put her lipstick on a pit bull, not a pig. Obama was the one putting his lipstick on a pig.

Second, who is the crazy one here? It is a fact that a majority of the people in this country AT LEAST support the right for gay couples to have a civil union. By saying that you do not even support the "separate but equal" doctrine of civil unions you have just alienated a large majority of the country. THAT is crazy Mr. Steele.

And last but certainly not least, I am unsure how ANYONE thinks that not allowing gays and lesbians the right to marry is anything BUT discrimination. Just because it was tradition or "value" that this country was founded on doesn't make it right or non-discriminatory. When this country was founded Mr. Steele wouldn't have even had the right to vote. I would not have had the right to vote. So Mr. Steele, should we go back to those founding values as well? I mean they are traditional! That means they couldn't possibly be discriminatory, right?

And FYI Mr. Steele, contract law does not allow the same benefits of marriage. Before you spout off your ignorance and hate you may want to do a little research.

RNC Chair Michael Steele, my pick for Douche Bag of the month of February.

Milk - My Pick for Best Picture of the Year (Spoilers)

Bear with me. This is going to be a long post and it is going to involve my soapbox, because Harvey Milk loved his soapbox and wanted us all to use ours.

First, the movie itself was phenomenal. I knew who Harvey Milk was, but not all the details of his story. The story is powerful, inspirational and heartbreaking. Sean Penn fully and completely became Harvey Milk in this film. The rest of the cast was also superb, including James Franco, Emile Hirsche and Josh Brolin. (And on a side note, this movie made me want to get back up to San Francisco). The love story between Milk and Scott Smith was also inspirational. Although tumultuous, their love for each other never ended, even when they were no longer together. The role of Scott was played amazingly well by James Franco.

The other person I fell in love with was Cleve Jones. Emile Hirsche did a great job in this role, I love the picture above of Emile with the real Cleve Jones. The most poignant scene of the whole movie came after his death, when tens of thousands of people marched to city hall, all carrying candles. The streets were FULL of people. This is where the tears started coming. I really appreciated that they showed us original footage of this march so we could see the enormity of the outpouring of love for Harvey. He was not just loved by the GLBT community, but by many groups in San Francisco because he was always championing the rights of the little people. I also really give a lot of credit to Josh Brolin for his portrayal of Dan White, the assassin of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone. It can't have been an easy role to take on, and he played it fabulously. It was understated, but you could really see the hate beginning to brew within him because he didn't receive the acclaim and power that Milk received.

Now for my soapbox. The parallels to what is happening today in the struggle for equal rights are obvious and abundant. Harvey Milk campaigned tirelessly for the end of discrimination and made huge strides in San Francisco, California and the United States. He inspired a generation of people to come out of the closet and embrace their identity. During Milk's service as Supervisor he had to fight a proposition aimed at taking away gay rights. Prop 6 was sponsored by an assemblyman from Orange County (shocker!) and was majorly funded my church groups, specifically evangelical Christians. (Sound familiar?). This prop would have taken away the right for an openly gay person or anyone that supported them to teach in public schools. It was basically a witch hunt bill. At first the bill was shown to win, but through Milk and thousands like him our state ended up voting no on that prop and many other anti-gay initiatives that followed. That is until Prop 22 passed banning gay marriage and now of course Prop 8, banning gay marriage in our constitution.

I am also disgusted that the story of Harvey Milk is not taught in public schools nationwide. His story is not just about gay rights, but about the struggle in this country for civil rights for all people. Leaving out the history of the first openly gay man elected to public office is inexcusable. There was a bill passed in our state legislature last year to create a Harvey Milk day where schools would teach about Milk and we could celebrate his life, but it was vetoed. The Evangelical/Mormon movement came out against it in full force, calling it a "Gay Day". Our Governor bowed under the pressure. Shame on him.

Why are we regressing? Why are we again listening to the hateful rants of a few religious people instead of overwhelming message of love? What this movie taught me is that we did not fight hard enough. When people forget history we are doomed to repeat it, and we did not remind people enough of the history of gay rights in this country. We didn't promote love and banish hate enough. I blame myself for not being more active. I could have given more money than I did. I could have passed out campaign literature. I could have attended rallies. My small monetary donations and painting No on 8 on my car were not nearly enough, and I know that now. If the current lawsuits do not overturn Prop 8 you can bet your life that I will be campaigning long and hard to overturn this amendment during the next election. Harvey Milk was and is an inspiration to all people, not just GLBT Americans. He taught us that you have to fight for Civil Rights and that the fight is worth it. He taught us that love always wins over hate and that all people really truly are created equal.

Last night at the Oscar's, a young openly gay Dustin Lance Black won for best Original Screenplay and his speech made me tear up. The producers, director, Sean Penn and Black all wore white knots symbolizing the struggle for gay rights. I loved that he said:

"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a
conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the
story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life;
it gave me the hope that one day I could live my life openly as who I am and
that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married. . . .
Most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they
are less than by their churches, or by the government, or by their families,
that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value. And that no matter what
everyone tells you, God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you
will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours."

And of course Sean Penn won for His amazing acting job. Those "commie homo loving sons of guns" did the right thing and gave the most deserving man the Oscar. Penn joked that it is not always easy to appreciate him, which is true LOL I think he has a huge heart and sometimes his good intentions are a little, well, over the top and actually have the opposite effect. His speech last night hit the perfect note though, and I am very very happy about his win.

I think Harvey Milk would have been proud and ready to continue fight for marriage equality and equal rights in this country. And I truly believe that in my lifetime gay marriage will be legal in all 50 states.

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

What a day. What a marvelous, historic, emotional day. 

The husband got up about 6:30 this morning to start watching the coverage, I followed about an hour later. (Hey, I was still going to sleep in on my day off!). Looking over the crowd that had gathered at The Mall, most of the waiving American flags was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

As the former presidents walked out, I think it finally hit me. The man I had supported since long before he even announced he was running for President of the United States was going to be sworn into that very office on this very day. WOW.

Watching him take the oath of office caused me to tear up. His d

aughters and Michelle were looking so proud. What their husband and father had accomplished was extraordinary. He was POTUS.

The people in the crowd were crying, laughing, yelling, screaming and waving their flags. Everyone was excited and hopeful and inspired. 

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."

I think that sometimes people underestimate hope and inspiration. Many right wing pundits have made fun of his "celebrity" status. Said that people thought Obama was the Messiah. That he could do no wrong. No on I know believes that, says that, or expects miracles from Obama. What we are is inspired. Inspired to serve, to dream, to believe. We are inspired to get involved in politics and take charge of our democracy once again. They can make fun of that all they want, but it is a powerful thing. 

"And so to all other peoples and governments who are watch

ing today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father way born; know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more."

The above quote was my favorite line from the speech. I am ready for America to be a moral guiding light once more. Not because of our religion, but because of our desire to always do right, to abide by our founding documents and others agreed upon thereafter, and because of our desire to help humanity as a whole. Not just Americans, but all people. In the end, we are all just people, no matter where we are born, and we all deserve the same basic rights. 

Hitting the Ground Running

During the transition two very important announcements have come out of our President-Elects office. The first being the proposed closing of Guantanamo Bay and the return of Habeus Corpus and then yesterday, the announcement that Don't Ask Don't Tell will be repealed and that gays and lesbians will be able to openly serve in our armed forces.

"Thadeus of Lansing, Mich., asks, 'Is the new administration going to get rid of
the "don't ask, don't tell policy?'" said Gibbs, looking into the camera.
"Thadeus, you don't hear a politician give a one-word answer much. But it's,
'Yes.'"

I can't explain properly in words how excited, happy and proud this makes me. We are finally going to listen to the supreme court ruling and uphold the constitution again while at the same time making strides toward more progressive civil rights and equality. I believed in Obama during the campaign and was a proud supporter of his, but even I didn't expect him to hit the ground running, especially on two such controversial but important issues.

Now our military will join the ranks of countries like Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy (plus many more) in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. We can really be proud. It took us awhile, and we may fall behind other countries in regards to equality for all, but we will get there.

Guantanamo will be a much longer process, and I certainly do not expect miracles. I will be happy if it completely closed within 2 or 3 years. As long as we work on getting trials for the detainees and do not sanction torture during the process, I think the world along with our own citizens will begin to see America in a better light. Our country always has been and always will be better than that.

5 days until Obama officially takes office. It still seems surreal.