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My husband and I were talking about this today, that yesterday felt eerily like 1992 to a lot of GLBT folks. Picture it, Bill Clinton had just won the Presidency from 12 years of Reagan-Bush and the Conservative revolution of the early 80's with the moral majority. People celebrated, boomers rejoiced at having a turn at the helm and GLBTers from across the nation were excited that a President who acknowledged them, courted them and embraced them had just won the Presidency.
However, that night in Colorado an Amendment to the Colorado Constitution was passed (Amendment 2) that basically stated that no local entity (cities like Denver) had the right to extend non-discrimination policies to gays and lesbians without state approval; furthermore it singled out gays and lesbains and stated that they could be denied services because of their sexual orientation since they were not a covered class under the State Constitution.
It ended up in the courts for years and finally the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional; the religious right didn't stop there though they changed their wording and tried in other states. 16 years later Colorado may finally have a state-wide non-discrimination clause that includes GLBTers, but the United States does not. 16 years later Don't Ask, Don't Tell is still the law of the land, 16 years later Matthew Shepard is a distant memory and his Hate Crimes Act still sits there. 16 years later and GLBTers once more find themselves outside the party, crying.
16 years later we now have another new Democratic President after a long and arduous 8 years of Republicanism, and now DUers get angry and upset when we come to this board for support and talk about our losses. Another Amendment of blatant discrimination has passed, this time in Calfornia, and we are told to sit down, to shut up, to hang on for a few more months, to not rock the boat, to remember what happened to Clinton, to stay in the back of the bus, to not waste time. I'm sorry, I cannot wait another 16 years.
The Democrats seem to like gay and lesbian's money, they seem to like our votes on election day, and they seem to talk a pretty good game, but when it comes down to it I'm still looking for hope, I'm still looking for a President who will not back down from the promises he made to us, and for that I have hope in President-Elect Obama.
It's the rest of you I'm worried about.
President-Elect Obama said he can't change America without us, he told us last night he needed our help, our guidance and our commitment. So are you all going to stick by your GLBT brothers and sisters or are you going to be like those blue Californians who sealed our fate.
Flame me if you want, but after 16 years I no longer have the patience.
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