Here we go again!

Here we go again!

 

 

Here we go again!: By David

 

            So that it’s out of the way. I supported Barrack Obama. I nagged all my friends and family to vote for him. I harassed strangers on the street to go vote and to vote for Barrack. I spit out a lung for the good senator from Illinois right up until 8 pm est. on 11-04-08. And when the results came in that night I was happy. But with that caveat comes another. Never did I say that he’d be better on G.L.B.T rights than McCain. There are a lot of reasons why Barrack is better than John but never did I say anything about gay rights. Not because I thought that if I said anything about gay rights that it would scare people from voting for him. Far from it! It’s that when it comes to gay rights I don’t think that democrats really care that much. We all (sans the log cabin republicans) why we don’t vote republican. “They hate us. They’re on the side of the religious right.” Bla bla bla … But when it come to mine and my communities civil rites I could never find it within myself to completely trust the Democratic party.

 

            I’m not a conspiratorial person. Unlike the people who don’t believe that we went to the moon or that 9/11 was done by the govt, I actually have evidence to validate my belief. Sure the few and far between steps forward on local and state levels and some federal stuff we can more than thank democrats for. But the big stuff? Bill Clinton in his 1’st campaign for the white house in 92 said that he’d get us equality in the military. Again more caveats. Bill Clinton rushed it. People weren’t ready for that and he didn’t go thru the right channels. So he gets a pass on that. So he have to forgive him for don’t ask don’t tell. A compromise that we should be happy for. Can I share my definition of a compromise? A compromise is where everybody is unhappy because nobody gets what they want. We don’t get equality because if our partners drop us off at the base and give us a kiss we get thrown out (except in war when you’re a ground pounder and warm bodies are needed). Heterosexuals on the other hand get benefits and a pat on the back. And the right doesn’t get what they want which is to see us all, lined up and shot. So Bubba gets a pass on that one. Then someone needs to explain to me D.O.M.A enacted in 1996. The bill was passed by Congress by a vote of 85-14 in the Senate^[1] and a vote of 342-67 in the House of Representatives^[2], and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. An election year! So 4 years after he promised to get us some federal equality he basically told us to fuck off. He ran ad’s bragging about it.

“The big D Democrates” haven’t really brought us anywhere on a federal leval. We don’t have a place in housing and job discrimination laws on a federal level. We don’t have immigration parrody. No marriage and no millitary. We came close to having an employee non-discrimication act but the T part of the G.L.B.T community would’ve had to be thrown under the bus. Which is why I’m not a fan of the H.R.C. We vote against the republican party because they openly hate us. Or atleast they apear to. Every election year they tell their “people” to vote for them or their sons will want to decorate and daughters will think that the Home Depot is a great place to hang-out. But the Republicans never really do anything or at the very least succed in doing anything because if they do succed then the hetero-supremacist won’t give them money anymore for their campaigns. But I can’t but shake the feeling that we’re being used to. That we’re being told what we want to hear and then we’re put on the back burner until the next election cycle when we’re told that they did as much as they can and that if we want more then we need to cough up more cash and vote.

 

            But for all the bragging Bubba did about D.O.M.A and don’t ask don’t tell. I don’t remember him matching it with effort after Mathew Shepard was murdered for a hate crimes bill. We still don’t have one on a federal level to this day. But we have a new president and a new congress and as of this day (11/29/08) we pretty much have a majority of the senate. What can possibly go wrong? That’s when I read in the news last Sunday that 44 isn’t going to do anything about the don’t ask don’t tell policy until 2010 (another election year. How funny is that). No word on on civil unions. As for marriage in New York Satate, none of the powers that be are going to do anything about it any time soon. Then a liberal radio talk show host said something durring the 1’st days of the prop 8 protest. That Barrack most likely won’t do anything to advance gay rights in his 1’st term as so that he can get elected in 2012. As Guy Renard and I pointed out in Declaration of Culture War, this is a slippery slope. If he does nothing for us in his 1’st term so that he can safly get a 2’nd term then it’s not a stretch to say that he won’t do anything in his second term or he’ll hurt the democrat running to succed him. I’m writing this because I just saw the Harvey Milk movie. It was great but I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t like liberals and he was a republican prior to running for office the 1’st time. I can’t help but feel there’s something I don’t know here. Then again Martin Luther King was also a republican. If he was around today he’d trade in his G.O.P membership faster than I can blink my eye’s. Since watching Milk I’ve felt my suspicions were vincated. While I don’t know what he had against liberals. Maybe it was the times or maybe liberal weren’t pro-gay once upon a time. They are now! Or atleast the one’s I hear on the radio are,  to some degree.

 

            So here’s my dark cloud conspiracy theory. Not to punish 44 before he can commit a crime, but I feel that all the big talk about change isn’t going to apply to us. I can feel a hand on my back and it’s going to throw me under the bus. It’ll probably come late next year. Barrack won’t get his hands dirty. It’ll come from the congress. Perfectly timed for 2010. It’ll be called bipartisan or some wishy/washy political jargan and it’ll be associated with the word family. We’ll be thrown a small political bone. And we’ll be told it was a political move and that it’ll be undone after the election cycle. That we need to calm down. Empty our wallet directly into a democratic campaign and vote the canidate with a D before their name on the ballot. Or the republicans will get in and start shoving us in ovens. It won’t even occur to us that we’re essentially voting for the guy who stabbed us in the back in the hopes that he’ll make the effort to pull the knife out. From this day forward we should let Barrack Obama know that he wouldn’t be the 44’th president if we didn’t canvass for him, vote for him, donate money to him, drag our friends and family to the booths. That he has to make good on his promises to us because everyday that passes by the libertarian party looks better and better. Or maybe the green party. Independent party looks promising. We just have to get rid of Joe Lieberman. But if our community is known for anything, it’s moving into a neighborhood and fixing it up. We worked just as hard as everyone else. We put our heart and soul into getting him in the White House. Some of us have lost friends for him. We must let him know on a daily basis that it he meant change. That if he’s really against wedge issue’s that cause partisanship. That he has to work for us and not the right. You can’t comprimise with illogical hate based on theology. Otherwise, come 2012! We must say No-bama.

Hetero-Supremacist: By Guy Renard

Hetero-Supremacist: By Guy Renard

 

 

        Many moons ago, I was reading XY Magazine. In it a writer pointed something out to me. “Who ever decided that straight was synonymous with being a heterosexual must have had a spectacular fucking ego.” Considering the original definition of the word seems to have little to do with being attracted to the other sex.

 

straight : adj., straight·er, straight·est.

Pronunciation: \ˈstrāt\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English streght, straight, from past participle of strecchen to stretch — more at stretch

Date: 14th century

Main Entry:

Pronunciation: \ˈstrāt\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English streght, straight, from past participle of strecchen to stretch — more at stretch

Date:

14th century

1 a: free from curves, bends, angles, or irregularities <straight hair> <straight timber> b: generated by a point moving continuously in the same direction and expressed by a linear equation <a straight line> <the straight segment of a curve>2 a: lying along or holding to a direct or proper course or method <a straight thinker> b: candid , frank <a straight answer> c: coming directly from a trustworthy source <a straight tip on the horses> d (1): having the elements in an order <the straight sequence of events> (2): consecutive <12 straight days> e: having the cylinders arranged in a single straight line <a straight 8-cylinder engine> f: plumb , vertical <the picture isn’t quite straight>3 a: exhibiting honesty and fairness <straight dealing> b: properly ordered or arranged <set the kitchen straight> <set us straight on that issue> ; also : correct <get the facts straight> c: free from extraneous matter.

 

Since then I’ve refused to use the word straight when referring to heterosexuality. Sadly that trend never caught on. Yet! But I do hope that this one does catch on. Can we please stop referring to people who hate gay people as homophobic? Aside from being completely stupid, it sets a tone that is anything but helpful to out cause and it’s dangerous.

 

Homophobia:

Pronunciation: ˌhō-mə-ˈfō-bē-ə\

Function: noun

Date: 1969

: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. An irrational fear or intolerance of homosexuality, or behavior that is perceived to uphold and support traditional gender role expectations. The prevalent assumption in Western society is that heterosexuality is the only acceptable sexual orientation. In sport, homophobia is expressed in ways ranging from telling jokes directed against homosexual activity, through harassment to physical violence against homosexual people.

 

Now I just want you to think about the phobia part.

Phobia:

Pronunciation: \ˈfō-bē-ə\

Function: noun

Etymology: -phobia

Date: 1786

: an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. A phobia is an intense, unrealistic fear, which can interfere with the ability to socialize, work, or go about everyday life, that is brought on by an object, event or situation

 

Where the fuck is the correlation? When I walk my dog no one who is afraid of dogs (cynophobia) has ever run up to me and tells me that owning a dog is an abomination. Tries to outlaw owning a dog or tells me that I need to get right and own a cat. Acrophobic people don’t go out of their way to ban airplanes, ladders and tall buildings. At no point does the word phobia describe  people who we call homophobic. It’s a term that at the very least it’s as annoying as irregardless. If only it was just annoying.

          Homophobic ads an innocence of fear to what is really hate. As if these hate mongers are really like little children huddling in their blankets with a night light on and us queers are the monster under the bed waiting the moment to strike. that we need to teach tolerance and to be patient. Doing that we  completely ignore their agenda. That they hate us and they want us (L.G.B.T people) wiped of the face of the earth by any means necessesary. Oddly enough I have a little respect for the god hates fags church. Because they’re honest on where they stand when it comes to us. They would like us to kindly drop dead. Pat Roberson and the republican party in general can’t seem to muster up the courage to say whats really on their warped minds. Even though there is tape of that from the 70’s and 80’s readily available on you tube. Once upon a time these monsters had no problem openly pointing to the parts of the bible that say kill gay people and saying it over and over as loudly as possible. Why not as much now? Why did Mormons stop preaching that being dark skinned meant that you had the mark of cain and where hell bound unless you are a slave to a white person. Did African Americans win them over with their sunny disposition. Nope! Being racist looked bad and Mormon colleges needed more atheletes. Luckily you can still make a buck from hating queers.

          Their rhetoric changed to meet the times. “We don’t hate gay people. We just belive in god and family”. Sound familiar? “We don’t hate black people. We just believe in the superiority in the white race”. That one was by David Duke. Even the klan doesn’t have the brass ones to trott that one out anymore. Hetero-supremacist is more than fitting a word to describe the people that we’re up against. Their message: We (gays) are less than them. We contribute nothing that they want so what good are we. We are to blame for all lifes woe’s, god hates fags. If a white person says things like this about black people, are they called afro-phobic? I think not! The word homo-phobic is also dangerous. Hyperbole? I’m too militant? Cut down on the caffine you say. Two words: Gay Panic. How many times have hetero-supremacist gotten away with this one in a court of law. As if their violence is is justified because if they didn’t kill the gay guy next to him. That gay guy might suck the hetero-sexual guys dick against his will. Really? It may not fly in a court of law in many states anymore but it’s alive and well in the right-wing of america.

          When I was in high school, I was taught by my English teacher that “English is a living language and that when we abuse it, it dies a little.” Homo-phobia is when a hetero-sexual sees a homosexual and runs in the opposite direction as fast as they can while screaming like a little girl. Homo-phobia is when someone who is scared of gay people finds out that he is standing next to a bi-sexual and pees their pants and cries. Homo-phobia is when someone is terrified of gay people, literally collapses into a fetal position at the very thought of a lesbian. Someone who goes out of their way to display that they openly hates gay people. Want to make laws that are discriminatory with the goal of marginalizing us. Professes hetero-sexual rule over civil rights and would defend their views with biblical rhetoric or blatant lies is a hetero-supremacist. Case Closed!

The religion issue. By: David

The religion issue.

By: David

     As I Co-wrote in Declaration of culture war. I’m terribly disappointed in the African American turn-out for prop 8 in California. Saddened doesn’t begin to describe hearing that 70% of a community that is a part of my ethnic make-up (Black/Latino on my mothers side and yes I’m disappointed in the Latino turn out too), came out in-favor of prop 8. Now there are caveats. The Mormon Church and the knights of Columbus put out ads directed to the African American community with Obamas voice. Half that said Obama is again the ban on gay marriage in California (which is true) and then said vote yes on 8. Another that had Obama from a debate saying that he’s against gay marriage (also true).  And in general a lot of people across a broad spectrum thought that voting yes on 8 meant you were in favor of equal marriage. That said! I’m still disappointed. But we (the L.G.B.T community) are to blame to some extent for that 70% vote. Our outreach to the African American community was minimal.

I can understand why that is. I grew up going to many different churches. Jewish temple, Catholic Church and Black churches. Listening to how we’re talked about in black churches is horrifying. Scary! Pop culture hasn’t helped much either. Except for Chris Rock how often do we see black men take our side on an issue. But I feel we’re still to  blame for the 70% number. Because we didn’t talk to the African American community. Speaking as someone that has attended black churches let me say that while it’s not a place that can be called gay friendly. I promise you 2 things. 1: you can ask to come in and talk to the congregation and 2: if you do address an African American congregation you will not end up buried under Jimmy Hoffa or leave with one less limb. African American churches are unique in that they are also a forum for community discussion. As long as you don’t bust in and go Ross Perot on them, they will let you speak. But what you must do is come prepared.

            Tip1: before you address their congregation. Attend a sermon at least once. It’s important to learn how to speak to them (for the love of god don’t imitate the minister or the choir. That’s called mocking). Yes you may hear something hateful about us at some point if it’s brought up. But stay and listen. Most importantly take notes on what their saying. Other than on homosexuality I promise you that black churches are the friendliest places on earth.

            Tip 2: Come prepared. We have to remind them that we’re not that different. In fact we’re more alike than different. We are fighting for our rites just as African Americans had fought for theirs. That the language currently used against us is the same that was used to justify segregation. That the people who are against African American issues (Conservatives) are against us. That we’re both being played to our detriment. That what hurts us (gay people) will inevitably hurt those (black people). This is where my Jewish side reminds you of the saying they came for the gays, then they came for the gypsies then they came for me.

            Tip 3: talk to the Old congregation members. For me personally I feel it’s important to talk to them as there’s a lot that we must learn from them. As time goes by we have less and less people from the 50’s and 60’s to talk to and learn from and the more we end up having to learn from books. Nothing against books. But if you can learn from people who were there as opposed to people sitting at a computer at the whim of a publisher or someone with an agenda, the better. And in the African American community is a matriarchal and patriarchal society.

            Tip 4: Discuss how were being hurt. There’s real evidence to show that discrimination from the government and isolation from communities is tied to homelessness disease and drug abuse in the L.G.B.T community.

            Tip 5: This is where as an atheist I must say. Please don’t challenge their faith to much. You can point out that the bible supports slavery and suppression of women and a lot of other things. But try not to turn the discussion into getting rid of God. If anything try to emphasize the more positive parts of the bible. Judge lest ye be judged. All sins are equal. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Etc…

            Tip 6: Leave on a positive note. Like any job interview.

Black churches aside. This is where I must say. It’s time to tackle the 501 c status of all churches that actively set out to stop gay marriage. There is a big difference between faith and religion. Faith is belief. And as Guy and I discussed in Declaration of culture war. Religion is about money. Plain and simple. Don’t believe me? The Mormon Church didn’t just hate gays. At one point they hated black people too. According to the Mormon Church, if you had dark skin that meant you were cursed by god. That the only way Blacks, Latinos and actual Native Americans (if you know anything about Mormons then you know why I had to put the word actual in there) could get into heaven is as slaves. Then that changed. Why? For 2 reasons. 1: it was hard for those young boys to knock on peoples doors and ask them to convert to Mormonism and by proxy hate black people. The other reason is because Mormon colleges needed federal money and their football teams sucked. If we’re to get anywhere in our struggle. We have to start attacking our enemy where it hurts the most. The bank account! I won’t even begin to guess how much money gets skimmed of the top when the heads of all these religions scream “the queers are trying to get married. Give me money or they’ll get your children” and the parishioners do so. But lets be honest, it’s got to be happening. Krefflo Dollar, Pat Robertson, and all these mega church people aren’t simple preachers living humble lives. They live in mansions. They drive huge cars while their flock scrapes by literally on a hope and a prayer. We are demonized for cash. Not for anything the bible says. You don’t see the pope advocating for the law to be changed so that disobedient children can be stoned to death without the cops getting involved. You don’t see church groups marching for a ban on clothes on 2 mixing fabrics. Although I would like to see a ban on polyester. Only us and abortion.

            Now boycotting churches is a good thing to do because the idea in doing that is to reach the parishioners. But that alone won’t stop these churches from demonizing us. Because they don’t get their money from us. But what we can do is take their money away from them. Revoke their 501 c status. We pay taxes. Why can’t they? There’s no reason for them to not pay. Once they cross the line that separates church and state then they should pay taxes. Saying being gay is bad during a sermon is one thing. When you tell your parishioners to vote against gays and sponsoring ads or to vote for someone because of their stance on gay issues. That’s when the line has been crossed. Politicians have let churches run amok because of the power that religious leaders over their parishioners. They want those votes. But I think it’s long past time to start suing politicians that cross that line. Because not voting for them is now enough. You have to cost them money. Sue the state and the federal government. Make the powers that be enforce the laws that they already have on the books. Once we start costing the churches that oppose us money. When the gain they get from demonizing us and going after us is less profitable than the fines and taxes they’ll have to pay for breaking the law, they’ll shrink away. Even preachers can do risk/reward analysis. Al Capone` didn’t go down for murder and extortion. He went down for tax evasion. Crooks, thugs and bastard like the religious right that profit from preaching hetero-supremacy can be taken down much like Capone`. Remove their 501 c status and they have no ability to fund ads. They’ll stay away from politicians to keep their 501 c status. This will cost them their political power. They will not direct their sheeple on how to vote to keep their status. The religious right is our enemy. In any war, the enemy isn’t just defeated when they run out of people to sacrifice. The enemy is defeated when they have no money to pay for their wars. These churches may never like us. But we win when it becomes to costly for them to express their hate outside the walls of their church.

declaration of culture war. By: Guy Renard and David

 November 4’Th was a day of celebration. That’s an uh-duh statement if you’ve never heard one but not everybody was partying. But prop 8 and other measures like it that passed shouldn’t be viewed as a defeat as much as a lesson. Want to end hetero-supremacist rule. Then you have to agree this statement: if they want a war, I say we bring it.

 

 

Declaration of Culture War

November 4’Th was a day of celebration across America, but many battles that day were lost. Gay rights in many states and especially in California were yet again tossed aside. California was the most disappointing. Aside from the fact the states constitution will be amended to take away rights. Not to deny rights but to strip them away. Aside from the fact that 70% of blacks and 50% of Latinos supported yes on 8. Never mind the fact that the Mormon church in Utah and the Catholic church stepped over the line that separates church and state by funding commercials supporting prop 8 and sending out disinformation. Injury is never enough. Insult is mandatory. Prop 2 won. Chickens get treated with more dignity and decency than gay people. Would your like some icing on your cake? Of coarse you would. What the fuck? That’s all I can really say. 1’st let me say to the 30% of the African American community and the 50% of the Latino community that sided with us let me say thank you and that you will always have a place in my heart. As for the rest of you. Black people and Latinos! Really? Slavery, the 60’s and the zoot suit riot. The L.A.P.D and the I.N.S now I.C.E. Have we really moved up in the world? (David is multi-racial and Guy feels that ethnicity is irrelevant) Maybe it’s just me being both gay and darker than a brown paper bag but I grew up always believing than not having to sit in the back of the bus meant you brought other people up with you. Not having a perfect spot to throw people under it. On the night that after 232 years of a white’s only sign above the oval office door, progress was finally made. 70% of African Americans and 50% celebrated by voting to oppress people who overwhelmingly voted for Obama. That one personally hurt. But we will have a dialog. We will remind your of where you come from either by community out-reach or by example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            But today is a brand new day. We lost a battle. But this war is far from over. Not even laws written in stone are forever. If our loss in California proves anything it’s that we’ve been fighting for our rights the wrong way. To say it as plainly as possible we really haven’t been fighting at all. For the past 30 years or so we thought that the religious right was the only thing holding us back. That the chain on our ankles was solely the hetero-supremacist. But it’s also been among other things relying on lawyers and P.R firms. We haven’t been fighting for our rights really. We’ve been paying lawyers to sit up and beg in front of a judge for us. We’ve given money to P.R firms to help improve our image. But fighting? We only seem to protest when the cameras are around. If we aren’t then we must not be doing anything worth paying attention to. The yes on prop 8 shouldn’t be viewed as a defeat. This should be a lesson. Allow me to save “those in the know” some time doing an autopsy” on 11-04-08.

More to come and soon a myspace page

 

            November 4, 2008 was the day that suing for equality, trying to buy dignity and justice, died. We raised $43.6 million, compared with just $29.8 million by the pro 8 side in California (time.com http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1856872,00.html).

 

            We make a dent in the hetero-supremacist barriers. The religious right points at us and then says to their sheep and says give us money. The sheeple fork over the money and some makes it to commercials that get us right back where we started. Same with the politicians. Now is the time to go old school.  If we aren’t allowed to be a productive part of society. It’s time be a disruptive part of it. The louder we shout from every roof top. From every street corner. The more people know that we are human beings. That we are people that are being oppressed. No more giving money to politicians that won’t tow our line. Nor shall they march in our parades. The word faggot and terms like that’s so gay are not to be brushed off. A bully stops being a bully when he catches a fist in the nose for being a bully. And no more tearing ourselves down. For to long we’ve separated ourselves with terms like butch, fem and the most insulting of them all straight acting. To elevate a trait is to elevate our oppressor. Black people don’t strive to be white acting. We don’t need to tear ourselves down. Plenty of others will be all too happy to oblige. We have to cut our enemies off at the knees. If the religious right wants to keep us down and use their money and their political influence like a sledge hammer then it’s long past time to start working to revoke their tax exempt status. If they wish to be part of the political process. Then they must pay the dues we all pay. Further more if we’re going to sue anybody lets start with the government. They’re derelict in their duties enforcing the separation of church and state.

 

            If marriage is strictly between a man and a woman then so is everything else. Let start work on a prop in every state in the union. No more tax breaks from the state and only one parent gets to write off the kids. What ever benefits are the result of taxpayer protection should no longer apply to marriage until it applies to everyone. After all one mans benefit is another mans burden. Especially since if you’re straight there’s a chance that you might get married then there’s really one group that’s paying for those benefits in the long run. For to long our marriages commitment ceremonies and even funerals have had a few to many guests. From now at least one weekend a month. We must pay a visit to where the extra chromosome crowd wears their best. Let protest as they go in and come out of their churches, synagogues and mosques. We are oppressed because we are seen as weak. It’s time to show the religious nuts and the hetero-supremacist that we are not only capable of being angry. But we are more than capable of being pissed off. For to long we have been nice and patient and deferential. For to long kindness has been mistaken for weakness. No more!

 

            We will not settle for civil unions, domestic partnerships or anything that is not marriage. We will not take the back of the bus. We will not settle for separate but equal. Because we know that’s not true. When we had separate but equal public bathrooms, how often do you think those were cleaned and maintained? Same with the separate but equal drinking fountains and schools. Further more there’s no reason to trust that there would be any long-term equality over time. And further more anyone who advocates for anything but marriage (usually straight people) doesn’t grasp our struggle. This is our fight. When we wake up in the morning we are the ones that are second class citizens. When we look in the mirror we are the one who lives in what’s supposed to be a free country and yet are not free. This is our fight. Even our allies can never quite know what it’s like to be us. The front line is calling us. We can’t count on “liberal straight people” to help us. Because many of them will throw us under the bus to suit their needs. Don’t believe me. “Obama can’t legalize gay marriage in his first term or he won’t get a second term.” That’s what a lot of liberal talk radio host are saying. With that kind of language is it really a stretch if I say that in 4 years they’ll be telling us that Obama can’t legalize gay marriage because that’ll hurt the democrat that’s running to fill his seat when he leaves. Sounds like too much of a stretch? I guess no one remembers don’t ask don’t tell. Thanks Bill! Sadly no one ever stops to think that when you use people as pawns that they can somewhere down the road become martyrs. This has to be our issue number 1 because at the end of the day it’s no one else’s. As for Obama if he pulls a Clinton. We Should vote him out regardless of the stance of his opponents. We will no longer be used.

 

            We are not a sub-culture, a life-style and the only choice that we have made is not to lie to ourselves and those we love. We are more than just people. We are a people. A people that is beyond race, religion, sex or national origin. We have a shared history. Our cultures are similar and we all face the same threats. And when we are threaten we all stand together and stare down the beast. We fight for our rights even if we don’t know if we’ll be equal in our lifetime. We fight even though we know some may die just in site of a long praised promise land. Thomas Jefferson once said that the tree of liberty must be nourished with the blood of patriots and tyrants. What we don’t gain today will be a gift for our children. Our friend’s children. Our family children. And the children of those we may never see. Never again will we loose a battle without taking our oppressors down with us. As for our enemies, they don’t have to like us or love us. They don’t need to cheer at our victories nor lament at our failings. I don’t even expect that should I find myself lying in the road that they would lend me a hand. I expect only one of 2 things. Respect us or fear us enough to leave us the fuck alone.

 

Guy Renard

David Jordan