I think I am more mellowed now on this concept than upon first hearing about his being selected to give the opening prayer. Here are my thoughts, and they are mine alone.
1. It is a prayer, not the setting of public policy or the appointment of a person that will do so.
2. It is balanced out by the closing prayer being done by the Reverend Joseph Lowery
3. I do not think that just because Rick Warren does not think we should be allowed to marry it means he hates us.

These are 3 things that make me more mellow on the concept. Let me express more thought on the 3rd on the list though. I am sorry people, but just because people out there do not think we deserve the right to marry, this does not automatically mean they hate us. Some of them believe that we deserve all the rights of marriage, but it should be in the form of a civil union. Many more believe on religous grounds that we should not have the right to marry, and you know that is their right to believe. No they should not be allowed to vote on it, and this is in the courts now, so there it is. BUT bottom line is that we cannot continue to simply dismiss those that do not share our thoughts and ideas outright from the table of discussion and or life. We live in a country that was founded on the basic principles that we can and will not always agree and yet we will work through it and move forward. We have moved forward through a lot of horrific shit in this country. It was not many years ago that women were not allowed the right to vote, and that marriage was little more than a property rights contract...or similar. We are not that far from a time when people of color in this country were considered property, and yet we just elected a person of color to the highest office in our land. We are not far from a time that we interned Japenease americans into camps, and yet we moved on past that. It goes on and on. We will move forward from this, we will have more marching, more decisions to come that will change the fabric of our country and more walls to get over.

Bottom line in my eye is that we cannot and should not simply say to others that they have no right to express themselves for no other reason than they do not agree with us, we are not always right and they are not either. We are just as bad as those we proclaim to want justic and freedom from if we take these courses of action. We should stand and fight for our rights yes, of course, DUH, but we should take caution with those rights of others around us in the process. We are not alone in this world. We are not the only issue in this country right now, there are pressing issues that are affecting everyone gay or straight, and those will take center stage for a while.

Closing thought, people need to open their minds and hearts to others that differ in thought from themselves. It does not mean putting aside your rights or your thoughts or heart, it means realizing that we are all here together and have to learn to exist together. Rick Warrn, for many of his faults, has many good things about him and his work. Those who deny that based on a single opinion held are very short sided and need to look in the mirror a little.

 Funny how you live in a city your whole life and yet a simple fact about it, especially about the community you call home, eludes your attention. Until recentle I had never heard of the Blackt Cat bar protests. In the community we have always been taught that the movement started with Stonewall. Of course, now we all know that it started many years before with others willing to step out. While not on such a large and or dramatice scale, there were many times and places in our history that brothers and sisters stood out there and did demand a change. The LA Times did a blurb today about the Black Cat http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then16-2008nov16,0,7528457.story

Now many years even before this there were the formation of gay groups in our society, and the beginnings of our community. In LA for example there were two motorcycle clubs that were here from the late 50's, that are still here today, the Satrys and Oedipus. I only know about them as I have ridden with them over the past year. But they are not alone. 

I was thinking, more and more, that I sure hope that while all this energy goes out in protests and such that some gets expended to some positive side for our community. When I was at the last protest I was struck by the mere sense of belonging that I felt with each of the other people there. It was something that I had felt being in our community for a long time, if ever to be honest. It was interesting that for these times we have all of a sudden lost sight of the facts for the most part that we are so seperated, which to this point we have been. There are so many groups and sub groups in the gay community its hard to keep up, and thats all good mind you, people are attracted to common thinking and the like. But one of the things that happens is that we tend to end up isolated in those groups, forgetting that we are all part of a bigger family. I think that these protests have shown us, if not those looking in with a bit of fear and or shock, that we are very present and very much a family unit when we need to be.

So to the original thought, I wonder if through all this how it would be that we could get people involved more in the other aspects of the community. There is more to this than protests after all, at some point the shouting and marching will stop and the rest of life will go on. We will achieve what it is that we want to have, that is a hope I hold onto. But there are so many threats to our family that are here besides this prop 8 that we could address. We still have AIDS ravaging through it like wildfire, not in the media of course, but the number are again on the rise. We have an economy in complete disaster, and this of course is making the job of our gay and lesbian centers harder every day, to server the needs of those in the community that need their services for their very existence. Just this week there was word of Meals on Wheels programs across the state and country shutting down due to lack of food and volunteers. People were bitching and complaining about Prop 8 not reaching out to the Black community during the election season, well efforts were made, there were not people to take on the task. Imagine the positive energy that can be directed at the our family here. 

So a note to those new emerging leaders and those that have led us to this point, lets not focus soley on the marching and protesting, yes those are vitally needed, but we have many other needs in our family as well. 

I ran across this on Facebook, thought I would share it here....it was a pretty good reminder of why these things are happening.




 

For those that actually are reading this journal.....

First off thanks...not sure what the hell your thinking....but thank you...but I finally decided to make this a friends only journal. I will be moving towards a more public forum website at some point in the future for a creative outlet, but for more update type stuff this journal will now and going forward be a friends only journal.

This is the only post that should be showing as viewable if you are not on my friends list. I decided that given the changes happening at work and other things going on in life it was just better to go this way, it allows me to be more free, is that right, in what I say and not have to constantly check the words I use....which should scare you given some of the crap I do say already....

So if you would like to add me then feel free :)