A NOTE TO ALL G.L.B.T. DUers

[NightTrain]

Since I overcame my homophobia at 17 (I'm 38 now), I've befriended dozens, if not hundreds, of you, the most recent being my roommate. YOU ARE ALL MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, whether you like it or not. ;)

Even if you had cost John Kerry the election--which you didn't!--I would think no less of your community. Like the African-Americans of the 1950s and '60s, you have a harrowing struggle for equality on your hands. I have supported, and done what I could to further, your cause for more than 20 years. I will continue to do so. And it's safe to assume that a good 99% of the folks at DU agree with me!

So take heart, my GLBT friends. No matter how those Bible-thumping Archie Bunker types in 11 states voted on "Election" Day, you are not alone. Someday your community will achieve the equality it deserves. And when that day finally comes, I'll be there to celebrate it with you! :grouphug:

[BlackVelvetElvis]

1. Thanks NightTrain.

Someday it will happen and (guess what) the world won't come to an end.

[patrice]

2. Count me in.

But, please, we need to figure out the strategy, and hence, the language for how we go forward on this.

That is one of the reasons I come here to the DU. It is a think tank.

[xxqqqzme]

3. as Jon Stewart asked

'all beause 2 dudes want 2 kiss?' I seriously question the morals of these people, or more correctly, the lack thereof.

[PittLib]

4. Me too! Me too!

I will always support you without compromise.

[seabeyond]

5. Even if you had cost John Kerry the election--

i would fight even harder for your right to be

[JudyM]

28. Thanks for that touching sentiment, and to everyone for your compassion.

Apparently there are many who feel that gays loving each other is scarier than children and other innocents dying in Iraq, than the destruction of the environment, than the discarding of the Constitution in many ways, than an astronomical deficit, erosion of respect in the world community, major corruption in the white house, etc., etc.

[mitchtv]

6. thanks Nighttrain, and keep those great polls coming

I am a big fan I grew up in NY in the 50's , so the genre means a lot to me.We have come a longway in the past 30 years, and we have won the hearts and minds of the youth. I may not live to see equality, but I know I did my share. The pukes will be brought down by their own greed and hubris; it is Karma.

[NightTrain]

9. You were gay in the 1950s? Lord have mercy!

But you lived to tell about it. That in itself is an accomplishment! :hi:

[mitchtv]

12. Legend has the oldest gay bar in America as

the Floradora right there in Jackson Heights. I wasn't in there drinking til the 60's, however.

[Fovea]

7. I agree

Many years ago I filled in as Priest in a gay men's Pagan group while the Priest dealt with his partner dying.

I became a lot more aware of the challenges of living gay from minstering to this small part of the community.

This really needs to be said. Dems did not lose because of gay marriage. Dems lost because of Karl Rove. And since my Gods are not always shiney and happy, I fully expect Karl to meet a poetic end, in the tradition of Classical Greek Drama.

[CAcyclist]

8. I'll second that!

I will always stand with the oppressed for equal rights. I have nothing to say to those appeasers who are supposedly on this side who would throw gays to the wolves. I know full well abortion rights and other rights for women will follow right after.

We stand together now and we win.

[idiosyncratic]

10. Count me in!

More :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:yourock:

[Ol Sugar Coat]

11. Thanks, I've been needing to hear this.

I know there is now (and will be) discussion in the party about how to "contain" the liability of having gays as a constituency. As a gay man, I can't say it doesn't hurt. But seeing the support of all on this thread is defininitely a healing balm. Scapegoating an entire minority of Americans as the Repubs have done to consolidate power is pure EVIL. But history has a way of sorting this shit out and doesn't it feel good to be on the side of justice and equality? It IS its own reward, you know. Peace

[NightTrain]

27. Glad to offer something positive at such a dark time.

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[terrya]

13. This gay man appreciates your kind words.

Thanks.

[Political_Junkie]

14. Thanks, Night Train,

it's been wonderful to see the amount of straight people here come out in support of us and our community.

:grouphug:

[nuxvomica]

15. Include me in that 99%

I don't think gay people lost us the election and I don't think we gain anything electorally by abandoning their struggle for basic human rights. Even if someone could prove a quantitative argument that the ballot initiatives brought out the Bushista vote in decisive numbers, I wouldn't buy it as a cause. If we really did lose fair and square, which I doubt, it's because our side was unable to tell the truth as persuasively as the other side tells their lies.
I feel really bad about the kind of message gay people may have gotten from this. They should know that we do not blame them and that we will not abandon them.

[lcooksey]

16. Hey, thanks

We can use all the support we can get right now.

[Solon]

17. Feel the same way...

We fight for ALL people, not just those who are politically expedient to support, even if it cost us this election, which I do not think it did, I still support GLBT people and support their rights as much as my own.

[Taverner]

18. Awesome post NT!

We are all brothers when there is oppression...

[deadparrot]

19. 110% agreed.

I'm not GLBT, but I'll keep fighting for you. :)

[Deja Q]

20. Thank you much!

:grouphug:

:yourock:

[LiberteToujours]

21. Thank you :)

[Warren DeMontague]

22. I will never stop standing up for what is RIGHT.

And what is right means full equality for my GLBT brothers and sisters. Nothing less, No apologies.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

23. Agreed muchly n/t

[archineas]

24. thank you

those of us here who are gay have to appreciate as much support as is offered, given how we're being cast as "the reason bush won".

thank you again

j

[PartyPooper]

25. Thanks, Night Train. Your sentiments are very much appreciated!

:hi:

[tedoll78]

26. NightTrain,

this homo thanks you.

I'm proud to be fighting alongside all of you! :hi:

[WillyT]

29. What NightTrain Said !!!

:bounce::grouphug::bounce:

All these idiots blaming Gavin Newsome and the Mass. Supreme Court, can bite my big white ass!!!

:evilgrin:

[Robeson]

30. Your sentiments are mine...Great Post!

:thumbsup:

[Skittles]

31. AMEN

:thumbsup:

[GingerSnaps]

32. Thank you Night Train

:loveya:

[greekspeak]

33. Very thoughtful and touching post, my dear!

:pals:

[bigwillq]

34. Thanks so much, NightTrain

I really appreciate your kind words.

[antigone382]

35. I second that!

This is a party that claims to be about equal rights and civil liberties, and it better stay that way. I refuse to be a member of any party that does not recognize your right to be exactly who and what you are, and to be able to pursue your happiness to the same extent that anybody else can. Any "Democrat" who is willing to reject your right to do those simple things, in an attempt to appeal to people whose lives are dominated by fear and prejudice, is not a real Democrat, IMO.

Not only that, but that tactic won't work. People whose primary voting issue is gay marriage are not going to vote for bigot-lite when they can have the real thing in a Republican. I would rather lose every election by trying to do away with prejudice, than win a single one by trying to appeal to it. What would society be like today if, instead of having the guts to demand an end to Jim Crow, we had equivocated, sacrificing what we knew to be fundamentally right because the cost was deemed too high?

Democrats are 100% on the right side of this issue (if anything, we're already too conservative about it); history will smile on us for our bravery if we stick it out, as much as it will frown on the ones who clung to their shallow bigotry. I, for one, pledge to stand with the GLBT community, whatever the cost may be, because I know that the reward of doing the right thing will be worth it, in time.

[Ms. Toad]

36. Thank you,

It has been very rough here the last few days.

We're hurting as much as anyone - likely more since we not only lost the presidency, many of us also got figuratively spit on by vast numbers of citizens in our state (in my case 3 million+). Many of us also spent a lot of time working on getting Kerry elected rather than working to defeat these referendums/amendments/etc. - and when we come here for solace and to rehash there is at least one thread on each of the first dozen or so pages blaming us and/or advocating that the dems adopt the hurtful positions of the right wing nuts.

It is very nice to have a thread by a straight offering comfort and support.

[Booster]

39. Gays were hand picked by Rove because they certainly

couldn't run on Bush's record. I think one of our big mistakes was not exposing these people as frauds - they're no more religious than I am. Rove saw an issue he knew would cause Dems problems and he ran with it - very smart, but slimey. The day the Democratic Party turns their back on ANY minority group is the day I turn my back on them. I'm just sorry gays had to take all that shit; they didn't deserve it.

[Ms. Toad]

40. Precisely,

but I expect that kind of garbage from Rove - what really hurt was how many folks here bought into it and continued to pile it on us.

Thank you for your support.

[m berst]

37. unqualified solidarity

"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed..."

- Declaration of Independence

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

14th Amendment to the Constitution

ALL of us, or none of us.

[Shallah Kali]

38. Those blaming the GLBT are full of bull!

It wasn't them it was diebold/etc and dem voter supression! And even if it had I would still support ya'll because it is the just thing to do! It ticks me off that some people are trying to get us to turn on our GLBT friends and family in order to win next time. IMO there are those who trying to get us to turn against one another to weaken us to make it easier for them to 'win' again. I won't let them and I am encouraged to see others resisting their urgings as well!!!

[m berst]

42. it is an excuse - "divide and conquer"

So we stand together. We are all free or none of us are free.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

41. It must be so hurtful to be labelled the scapegoat. My heart goes out to

them AND the many African Amercians who have AGAIN been disenfranchised with hardly anyone in this country giving two rips. It's like both groups get so dumped on and anyone gay is so "stigmatized" already. So sad.....

[kerry-is-my-prez]

43. The freakin' Repubs put the gay marriage thing on all the ballots anyways.

It wasn't the gay groups.