OnLine With Zoe

The Father of the New Civil Rights Movement.

If you are not already reading David Mixner’s website, Live From Hell’s Kitchen, then begin today.  It is the heartbeat, the voice, the intersection of the New Civil Rights Movement in America.  Certainly David would be the last to say so but that is only another indication of his place in this river of change. 

If you were fortunate to be at the National Equality March, you saw thousands of rainbow draped people marching past the White House on their way to Congress.  I was there, as I had been a dozen times before, and this march was like no other.  This was not angry, not demanding, not insisting that some outcome be averted.  Conversation was not desperate or chants goading.  This was celebration and if you are not around young LGBT much, let me share with you that this celebration is the outburst of 200,000 people all being OUT or okay hanging with people who are OUT. 

Yes, there was awareness that many who were not there wanted to be out, to be safe, to be loved.  We all know about hate crimes.  Judy Shepard spoke and every one of us know someone who is living in isolation or died alone.  However my point is that this gathering was bubbling with joy, love, pride and a deep understanding that rights and equality are on the way.

Several people I know here in Southern California went to Maine the last couple of weeks.  As with all activism, the action starts with full belief in success.  They begged for money, packed their bags and expected to come home having sustained Marriage Equality for Maine.  Once again we woke up on a Nov 4th to the majority of voters fearfully shunning LGB people.  The loss is the opposite of what I felt in DC at the march; it is a room without oxygen, without color, joyless.       

I want to stop this feeling of a collective momentum against queers.  I am wondering if this is actually about referendums, propositions and the majority hoarding their perceived rights which is the historical precedent.  Is this so egregious in its application that it will call on the American conscience to stop even soliciting justice from the majority.  It is not proper to ask, to expect, to empower the majority to protect the rights of a minority.  Wiser people than I knew that ~ when did we lose that thread?

The diagnosis and resolution of that conflict is not my focus (though we need it to be championed by some).  I am always and only concerned with equality which brings me to the discussion about the ideas, opinions and actions of David Mixner who is becoming the organic bellwether of this Civil Rights Movement.  Today he posted the second in a serious of writings on the loss of Marriage Equal rights, when the voters are asked to protect a minority.  He has done what needs to be done which is stop naming this movement marriage equality, military service, assigning the status of hate crimes – running piecemeal state – to – state and name it what it is: CIVIL RIGHTS. 

This is the next footfall in the march of human rights.  This is a breathing, growing expression of diversity within the human race and it cannot be marginalized, brutalized, isolated, ignored any more.  There is not another moment to wait, another omen to be unveiled, another tragic loss to be survived for everyone who believes in civil rights to name this movement, join this movement, embrace and escalate this movement.

In close I want to include in this clarion call to recognize our leaders, join with one another and dedicate ourselves to this just cause ~ a sincere and wise caution: we must be vigilant to be that which we want to create.  We have to become and behave as the society which we want.  Within our ranks we have to include LGBTAIQQ, all genders, sexes, ages and races PERIOD.  We need women in leadership, welcome our advocates, include people of color.  We need to bridge generations, honoring passion in the young and the veteran.  More simply: We must be the change we want to see.  No one is equal until everyone is equal. 

Equality ~ Nothing Less Will Do

The Equal Rights Amendment has been on my mind, in my spirit and written across my heart for over 30 years.  After going to the National Equality March it is crystal clear to me that the country is roaring with the word EQUALITY and this is the perfect time to build an ERA internet portal.   It has been a long time dream of mine to have one central  location on the internet where people could find current information on constitutional equality. 

On Wednesday, October 14 I woke up at 3 AM with the words ERA ONCE AND FOR ALL blinking in my mind – like a neon sign.  By noon I bought the url, opened the twitter account (@eraforall) started a facebook page and got a gmail account.  I suppose it is proof that when it is the right thing do to – it all just comes together.  With the help of my electronic tribe; Phillip, Everett and Patty, it came together in 15 days.  http://ERAOnceandForAll.com 

There are lots of ERA sites, most are campaigning for one specific strategy to advance constitutional equality. I don’t mind that so much as I mind being negative about any other strategy.  I have zero interest in speaking against any strategy.  Spiritually, there is nothing to be gained by speaking against either strategy, everything to gain by supporting both and, finally, when one catches fire ~ we can all push like hell together!

Http://eraonceandforall.com  ‘s mission  is
•  support all strategies for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
•  distribution of information on the current status of the ERA
•  education on the history of the ERA

Check out the fantastic endorsement page = http://eraonceandforall.com/endorsements.html 

Email your name and organization and business to be listed.  You are all welcome to comment, to send in things to post, to note actions.  Do you have a site or ERA blog you would like listed?     

This last week I have been spinning in a cyclone of miracles.  One of them is that for the very first time, I saw video of the 1982 fast.  I made a video of it playing on my computer.  It is very degraded and 27 years old but you may enjoy it anyway.

Roses and Thorns at NEM

The last 90+ days of my energy was spent on the National Equality March.  All it took was the word, EQUALITY to make me sit up and pay attention.  If it is about Equality, I am gonna be there.  In June I started asking everyone I know, every organization I belong to, “Hey its about EQUALITY, who’s with me?
 
The answers were really interesting and I am not all together certain when they will fully unfold and be available for reliable conclusions.  Broken heart, faulty expectations, thrilling new people, more love than I was prepared for and deep regard for civil rights.  At 61 I am still shocked that civil rights aren’t obvious, (see there is something constant in the life of an activist).  Justice; I want it, I am willing to work for it, we need it, lets get it.  As my friend Melissa relayed a chant she heard while marching up Pennsylvania Avenue, “We here.  We’re queer.  We’re fabulous.  Don’t fuck with us.”  Yeah, that about sums it up.

On the phone today, trying to explain how I feel, all I could really say is that I am standing still while a diorama of events is roaring past me, around me; almost knocking me over.  I hesitate to pluck one out of the rampage to examine it but feel conflicted that the impact might lose its muster if I don’t. 

I am going to use what my new tribe of MARCH ON asked me in their exit interview (their 174th of the day) to talk about a couple of highs and lows of the experience. 

Within the holy walls of NOW I had both highs and lows.  Rainbow tee shirts, 654 facebook MARCH 4 EQUALITY NOW fans, purple rounds, sisters collecting on 15th Street after months of fund raising, plane tickets, support that feminist poets wax on about.  National leaders not marching with us, not writing about the march on the blog, not endorsing until three weeks before the march – makes me mournful.  I say that somewhat sheepishly but it is my reality and for those who look beyond the surface they will know it could only be felt by one who loves NOW, maybe a bit too much.  

When my NOW family began their march to the Capitol, I waved goodbye and took off to find a cab; believing that I would get to the West Lawn when it was empty and could stake out our space.  The driver got me 2 miles ahead in the 2.4 mile march and I found myself at 10th and Pennsylvania.  The march was well under way, marchers as far as one could see in either direction AND when I got to the lawn, it was already half full.  Maybe I didn’t know anyone, know their name or they know mine, but it was family ~ LGBTQAI Family.  It was radiant, dazzling, beautiful family. I felt loved and safe.

An hour later my tribe arrived, straggling in with ridiculous smiles, squeezy hugs and ready to rally.  Lady Gaga, god and the gays delivered 4 hours of talks and song while we sat on the grass.  My most adored Advocate friend, who works tirelessly for LGBT, was given a backstage pass!  Oh at last, after two months of trying to get her 5 minutes at the mic to salute West Hollywood’s commitment to LGBT rights and acknowledge the Third Wave of NOW, she got to the right place, at the right time when one of the four principle organizers tells her to leave immediately or she will BE removed, as she is not “ one of us.”   Who is this us?  Am I one of US?  I don’t want to be one of THAT us.  I am ashamed.  I am ashamed of us.

Like the Obamas playing roses and thorns at the dinner table; the whole weekend held highs and lows but using this metaphor ~ I am stuck with a few powerful thorns and a dozen, dozen, dozen roses.

National Equality March 2009 (42 photos), by Zoe Nicholson

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Welcome to this Moment

Welcome to this moment.  Welcome to the right place and the right time.

 We are the well, the brave, the capable.  We are the ones who can come out and live openly in the light of day.  We are the Change-makers who are advancing the river of human consciousness. 

Let me answer the question, “Why 2010?”  Because it is happening.  Game on.  The forces are collecting on both sides.  It is NOT because of money and signatures; it is because of hearts and minds.  This is about the pulse of the earth  ~  the opening for change.  We are the sand in the oyster. We are the agitators who will be happily forgotten when preference, orientation, sexuality, sexual identity are no longer used to separate, to categorize, to castigate.  They will just be some of the many ways humanity is expressed.

Marriage is our salt.  Gandhi and the Indians did not need to collect salt themselves.  He did not need to walk 241 miles to the sea to make salt.  This was his act of defiance to say that India belongs to Indians and the salt in their sea is theirs.  However the most important transformation was happening along the road: people watching at the roadside who saw (and felt) the marchers determination, the press who reported the collecting effort, the undeniable fact that people were serious and willing to sacrifice for their country’s independence.  Conversations with everyone swirling in the matrix of change.

·         No one here is going to work on this campaign so they can storm a church to stand at an altar where they are not welcome.

·         No one here is demanding that the Catholic Church grant the sacrament of matrimony to queers.

·         No one here is so trivial as to think this is about gift registries, wedding veils or tuxedos.

·         No one here is ready to work in this campaign to just be able to have their fairy tale day. 

We are here to use the levers of marriage and military service to move the consciousness of humanity in the next unfolding of self-discovery; to hold the river rapids steady as we lurch forward in dissolving this form of second class citizenship.  We are here at the edge of evolution and change because we have vision and lives which afford us this luxury.

I am so proud to be here ~ as the beginning sets in place all that follows.  I am in love with equality and you are too.  It is just that simple.  Because, in fact, there is just no place else to be. 

speech at Restore Equality 2010 meeting Orange, CA

Invest in Students ~ Invest in Change

Reprinted with permission from the October Issue of Ladybug Flights.

Several months ago a rumbling began in the LGBT movement, propelled by the cascade of states ready to recognize the pairing of non-straight people and the shocking loss of marriage equality in California. A few national organizations started talking about a National March on the Mall for Equality.

As we are Americans, everyone had an opinion. Many felt and some still feel that it is not the right time because we are working hard in many states, mostly running on fumes, fund raising, collecting signatures, electing politicians who are ready to embrace that humanity is diverse. Others put their heads down, got the required permits and put one foot in front of another. For weeks blogs, posts, tweets were argumentative, contentious, competitive, mostly questioning the timing or defending a national march.

I never questioned for one moment. To me nothing is as effective, productive, long lasting, transforming as a march. I posted the question on Facebook ~ how did your life of activism begin and everyone who responded said it was a march. From the moment the decision is made, an individual begins planning, thinking, dreaming (possibly scheming) about the march. The three hours of walking and listening to speakers is only the cherry on top of the sumptuous sundae of becoming a changemaker.

Today you can effectively participate in politics, movements, marches right there at your desk or on your couch. You can collect signatures, blog, post, tweet, make calls, reach out through a network of your own design. If you can't go to a march for any reason, you can sponsor someone who can. It is an investment with high yield returns. Gandhi's life would have been entirely different without, Herman Kallenbach and the dozens of benefactors who contributed to the ashram and the campaign. You will be confirming someone's ideals and making it possible to see them realized.
   
One group that has caught my attention is Students for the National Equality March. Through the spectacular social media network of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, this is a national organization supporting students who have the time, the passion, the character to come to Washington DC for the March for Equality but need sponsorship. In addition, members of Students for the National March for Equality will be posting and tweeting, so you can follow minute by minute. This is the new electronic movement; exciting and unstoppable.

Of course the real payoff happens when that marcher comes home. They are, not just changed, but are now a changemaker. They have found that an ideal, manifest in community, is irresistible.

Happily over 200 organizations have endorsed the National March for Equality and are collecting a force for change. You can find out all about it at Equality Across America. The excitement is building. The District of Columbia is voting on marriage equality, Rep Nadler is introducing a bill to repeal DOMA, Vermont has Hubby, Hubby ice cream to celebrate gay marriage. The country is on the March! I marched in 1968, 71, 72, 78, 80, …. and 2009! I hope you will march with me in person or virtually.

The Suffering of Change

Friday I went to hear His Holiness, the Dalai Lama speak and to receive the Amitabha Buddha Initiation.  The Teaching was very complex, as Tibetan Buddhism always is.  There is a form of Buddhism for everyone and if you like complex diagrams, higher math and puzzles, Tibetan Buddhism may be the right one for you.  HHDL talked about the Four Noble Truths, the three turns of the Wheel of Dharma, the eight fold path, the three vehicles of Buddhism, the six transcendent perfections, etc.  After sitting in meditation halls, listening to complex Tibetan teachings for many, many years I know the best thing to do is to let it all pour through me, around me and not bother trying to keep careful score.  It is much more interesting to wait a bit and see what surfaces above the rest.
 
Embedded in the talk was a long section on the three forms of suffering, the second of which is the Suffering of Change.  It is my take-away.  Change is a central linchpin in my life.  Personally, I am not a fan of change.  I feel like I am hanging off a cliff at any given moment, testing the limits of social convention so when I am asked to change, yet again, I really dig in.  But I am persistent asking others to change.  Mostly I ask by just being in their vicinity.  I look like a big old nun (until the tattoo shows and no it is not a pin-up) and then I make sure to use a word or two that ruffles; queer, abortion, atheist, pacifist.  I like watching them adjust, like someone squinting on a bright afternoon exiting a dark movie theater.

I find it is interesting to mess with the lines of social convention ~ touching the border, reaching over the border for a split second.  When I was seven or eight and not allowed in my big brother’s room, I would stand at the line in the carpet, dabbing my big toe on the forbidden side for half a shake of a lamb’s tale, singing, na, na, na, na, na.  And then run for my life back to my room, throwing myself on the bed as if I had shattered a window or robbed a bank.  My brother appeared entirely bored but I was certain he was pretending.
 
Usually when I talk to a group, I gage my language, measure my anecdotes, jab a bit, push a little; test them for tolerance and me for good judgment.   It’s a skill figuring out how much you can ask of people before they can’t hear any more.  And recently it sure seems that a lot of people are freaking out.  Every day there are news stories about people working to stop change; unprecedented numbers of organized protesters outside of over two hundred Planned Parenthood clinics, anti-health care reform demonstrators with anti-etiquette acting out, neo-nazis in Riverside exploding over immigration laws, tea partiers brandishing posters of the president as an African cartoon or dictator icons.  Conservative Americans are flailing at sea.

They are up to their elbows and earlobes in the Suffering of Change.  Society is changing; that is the fact.  As society advances, people want to be paid, be well, be equal.  Today, humanity, in all her variations, is demanding and, occasionally, seizing equality.  The US government is on the brink of joining the rest of the Western world in caring for all citizens, well and sick.  Women are ascending, ever so slowly.  Wages, weather, weapons, vehicles, riches, taxes; change is rising above the surface and cannot be ignored.

Conservatives are drowning in the Suffering of Change and one way or another they are going to find out that the Suffering of Change is relieved by detaching from the familiar or by embracing the unknown.  The worst possible thing to do is try to stop the change; it is a sure fire failure.
 
Watching people work so hard to resist these modern changes is sort of painful.  I do not celebrate that people are frightened by the changes that are unfolding, inevitable, well under way.  I find it truly sad and so upsetting that they are torturing and killing changemakers.  Like my brother sitting at his desk in his room, while his obnoxious little sister taunts him at the threshold, it is best to not run out yelling, throw a few slaps, slam the door; better to endure, feign indifference or, better yet, just realize that this is what kids do as they grow up and become responsible adults.

The Implosion of a Mountain of Bigotry

There is something so palpable afoot in America today.  You can see it in print, feel it in the crowds, hear it on the radio, maybe even watch it at your family dinner table.  Things are changing.  Looking back it seems kind of funny that Barack Obama used the slogan Change You Can Believe In.  The fact of life is that change is always happening and all pain dwells in trying to stop it, control it, ignore it, deny it.
 
But the country is heaving with change these days.  The people who want no change (some even want to go backwards) are so morally, emotionally, spiritually bankrupt that they can only behave like bullies, village idiots, buffoons.  You can find them at town halls, on the Mall, protesting high school performances of Rent, forcing truancy on their kids to avoid hearing a Black man to tell them to work hard in school and to wash their hands.  They are birthers, deathers, yellers, shouters, blusterers; fundamentally they are gasping on fumes of their own exhale.

President Carter said that he believes some of the animosity being thrown at President Obama is happening because some Americans (mostly Southerners) do not believe an African American could be qualified to lead the country.  I think that is a very light touch on the mountain of bigotry that is bubbling underneath an ever thinning veneer.  I believe that this particular group of people cannot follow a Black leader, cannot be led by a Black leader.  And to go a bit deeper on this subject, they cannot reconcile that they made much of this possible through granting full citizenship to Black men, integrating schools, enacting affirmative action.  As I heard a woman on KPFK say, (I am sorry I did not get her name) “Once he got elected, some people were shocked that it happened and their hoods fell off.”  My opinion is that if you don’t see that this is all about racism, you need to do a lot of work on your racism.  To hear Mr. Gibbs say today, at the White House Press conference, that President Obama thinks this has nothing to do with race was so unauthentic, so insincere, so disheartening that I can only shake my head in disgust that it is so bad, Barack Obama cannot address this obvious racial bigotry.  I do understand that it would contribute to its volatility for him to name it; but it is pathetic.

We are in an arm wrestling tournament in regards to health care.  This is only and all about caring for others who did not accrue the ability to care for themselves.  On one hand, this is very, very complicated.  Are they poor?  Are they unable to work?  Are they lazy?  The racists might even think that not caring for the poor is one way to keep people of color from advancing – hoping for a high mortality rate, not just for babies, but for those who have no access to wellness, good food, clean water and clean air.  (and yes, they are really pissed off that one Barack Obama broke out of the hobbled pack)  But on the other hand it could not be easier; we have enough for every man, woman and child to be cared for and to deny that care is immoral.  I believe that only conversation that should be going on in regards to health care is how to take care of everyone ASAP.

Progressives are collecting their spirit, counting breaths, identifying causes, holding the line of sight on Equality.  All of this push back is ugly, scary, should I even say ~ violent but it means people can feel that change is a comin’. 

NOW Coalition Sisterhood Endorses National March for Equality

The NOW Sisterhood Coalition of Southern California is proud to endorse the National March for Equality.  This March represents two of our top three issues - Equality and LGBT Rights.  These four activist Chapters are not only endorsing but also attending the March for Equality in Washington DC, October 11, 2009.

Hollywood NOW
Long Beach, South Bay NOW
Pacific Shore NOW
Palm Springs NOW

We recognize that the time has come:
·         To recognize Marriage and all its privileges for pairs of adults, regardless of sex.
·         To end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act.
·         To end the social stigma of LGBT, calling to eliminate the antiquated idea of separate but equal.

This Sisterhood Coalition is proud to state and stand by the principles that families are diverse.  We demand that LGBT families qualify for family insurance policies; are able to visit family members in hospitals; and inherit their mutually-created property. We want LGBT families to be able to adopt and rear children without harassment.  We want LGBT people to be the recognized and legally-enabled caretakers for one another in old age.

This Sisterhood Coalition is proud to state and stand by the principles that LGBT people have the right to openly serve in the military.  They want to serve and protect the safety of their families, our families, and the nation; they always have and always will.

This Sisterhood Coalition believes in equality under the law with all the rights and responsibilities that come with it. That is why we are marching in our Capital on October 11th, 2009. Those of us who can travel, walk, and ride will be there, but we will also be there for the thousands who are hiding, lost, and homeless - for youth, for seniors, for the isolated and the lonely who only wish they were in love, being loved, and planning to marry. On October 11th, each of us will march for more than ourselves.

Mr President, You Have Lost the Plot

Van Jones resigned and said it was apparent that he would be in the way of the president's plans.  Well I can say, after 8 months, the president is in the way of my plans. 

I don't want to hear from Hillary fans who are thinking, "I told you so." This has nothing to do with that event which has most definitely sailed.  My opinion is about now, today, this week, this president.  I voted for the party, the platform, the alliance of the House, the Senate, the White House and, hopefully, a certainty that the Supreme Court appointees would be pro-woman, pro-labor, pro-humanity (as opposed to pro-corporate).  It was a matter of creating an unstoppable coalition of democrats, a majority of democrats to finally bring the USA into a global conversation about climate, economics, education, military, sexual orientation and, finally, join the intelligent evolved countries in assuring health care for every citizen. 

The fact that this candidate is Black, a Harvard graduate, a community organizer, the father of two girls I held some predictable expectations.  I thought he would be a champion of the poor, the disenfranchised, those seeking equality.  I thought he would surpass Clinton and Bush, who each had 6 women in the cabinet (he has 4).  I thought he would close the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, (he expanded it).  I thought he would sign the matched set of laws; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Par Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act.  He signed one leaving the other necessary arm dangling thus rendering his signature a photo-op. 

He stated clearly that he would be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT.  Was that promise fulfilled by awarding  posthumous medal to Harvey Milk?  But what of my friends who are out of the military, stripped of all benefits, my paired friends facing their marriages being dissolved and why did he not require health insurance for domestic partners working in government?  Another sliver we were offered was inviting Reverend Robinson to give the closing prayer at the inauguration, after Rick Warren opened it.  These trifles are not just meaningless but insulting as DADT and DOMA are intact.

And what of women?  Was I entirely wrong to think, because his mother had ovarian cancer that he would never bargain with women's reproductive health?  He lives with four females but drops women's reproductive health from the Health Care Reform Plan?  Funding for women is the first to go as if it is always in play, the easiest to desert.  Finally, didn’t I vote for someone who was going to shut down the US involvement in Iraq?  What was in his mind when he made those promises?  Did he know then he would actually escalate in Afghanistan, send troops back for more tours, replace Guantanamo; not end all torture.  I did believe he knew that you can't kill your way to democracy. 

For months friends told me to give him time.  I have read that most of his appointees aren’t even n place yet though I find that, in itself, disturbing.  I tried to understand his leadership methodology, thinking maybe he is using Wheatley, Senge, and misc authors from Barrett Koehler.  However now, if he is using some type of leadership model, he has lost the plot.  You cannot drop those whom you have collected.  You cannot dump your believers, your followers, your visionaries, your workers, your donors.  Why is the agreement of Olympia Snow more important than 86 Democratic members of the House? 

Rule of Thumb: You build the unified tribe, remember the promises you made to them, holding their support as your empowerment to meet the unified mission.  As your brave tribe members (such as Mr. Jones) are attacked, you defend them.  But instead, one by one we are being abandoned.  You are taking our support for granted.  It is insulting.  You are obviously not as smart as you think you are, as I thought you are, as you need to be. 

John Dean Needs to March

Like many people I have several google alerts.  Mine are set to Equal Rights Amendment, Feminism, National Organization for Women and Zoe Nicholson.  In fact, I keep up on all the Zoe Nicholsons around the world; the athlete in Australia is doing very well.  This week I got one that pointed to John Dean and the ERA. 

His essay, "Health Care Reform; A Time for Real Action," appeared August 21, 2009 on the FindLaw website.   I scanned to find what this had to do with the ERA and I found a series of paragraphs beginning with, "Marches on Washington Change Nothing."  He goes on to say that, Marches on Washington do not result in new laws or fundamental changes in policy. Such high-profile demonstrations have a long, and tired, history throughout the last century. If you examine a few of the many celebrated demonstrations, it is clear that they accomplish little – other than symbolism.

In an attempt to validate his point he lists; 1913 ~ March for Suffrage, 1932 ~ vets march for war bonuses, 1963 ~ Civil Rights March when Dr King delivered. "I have a Dream" (August 28, 1963), dozens of marches to protest the Viet Nam War and finally 1978 ~ when 100,000 Americans marched for Constitutional Equality. 

He concludes this section with, In fact, there have been so many marches on Washington that even their symbolism has been diluted. Such gatherings once created networks for people who, after meeting in Washington, continued to work -- usually with more success -- in their respective states. But the Internet means that it is no longer necessary to travel to Washington to join a community of like-thinking people who are interested in taking action.  I know John Dean is a very educated and articulate man but he has this beyond wrong. 

If you ask any activist what made them realize who they are, what is important and why they live a life of activism, chances are they will tell the first march they were in.  Was it the Mother's Day March, was it civil rights, was it just the courage to stand on a corner with a sign. 

It was that single moment of full democratic  participation that lasts a lifetime.  It is indelible, significant, sustaining and the very best part of being an American. 

So John Dean thinks marches are not "real action."  I am sorry for you, John.  Maybe real action for you is at the Watergate, in some elite halls, maybe ivy walls but for those of us who see the streets as our halls ~ marches are our lighten rod, the ocean where we set our sails for change.    

Waiting is NOT Activism

The waiting for an organic leader to arise is really the acknowledgment that no leader has, of yet, been able to command a following capable of creating a desired change.  There may be hundreds who see the vision, share the goal, but there needs to be enough people called to action.  In the 60’s it seemed as if people were already on their feet – ready to move society along – but in reality – it was a party – often a stoned party.  (see pot isn’t all that bad is it?)

Today the popular thinking is that evolution, leadership and change is collecting; we will know it when we see it.  We are spinning and coalescing through social networking and theories, such as Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science, confirm the plan, assure the outcome.  However we need to admit, the sooner the better, that something is seriously not working.  Today the suffering exceeds the importance of waiting for the organic leader to rise like yeast.  Today the wait has become the excuse.  Today people have validating this waiting period naming it the activism itself.  It is not active- it is waiting.
 
So no organic leader?  Why is that?  Is no one attractive enough?  No one put in the time?  No one willing to risk their access to the political leaders?  Are we repulsed that these organizers are paid too much and are now so socially admired, that they won’t risk being unpopular?  Frankly, I still get heat about fasting in 1982.  There are some who say that the problem with the fast was there were only seven people but  believe me when I tell you that the ascended, crowned and tidy leaders still think of it as a spoiler.
 
I myself would prefer to operate with a true organic leader.  As Robert Greenleaf says in, The Servant as Leader, this is someone who is regarded, depended on, knows the path and, without election or appointment, commands the attention of those who want to get somewhere.  One of Greenleaf’s fine examples is Leo, the Sherpa, in Journey to the East.  He is the travelers’ leader and they don’t even know it.  They don’t need to know it.  They are just led.  He cooks, he reads the map and, in doing it so well, the followers are at ease.  It is in Leo’s disappearance that his function is recognized.
 
I have read that Joe Solmonese says there is no organic leader in the LGBT movement.  The New Science on this is that the will of the people is the leader; the collected intention is the leader.  That has been my thinking as well.  But today I am at pause about it because Barack Obama is breaking the rhythm, the process, the order of things in a way that does not fit this paradigm so I have to ask if the opening salvo is still applicable.
 
Obama had all the appearance of a true servant leader.  He arose from conditions that would convey that he knows both the rich and the poor, many races, many religions and would not forget.  His years as a community organizer gave us a reason to feel confident about him.  He appeared to have the map, he could read a compass, he knew where to buy the food and could recommend travel gear and we read the brochure and signed up on his trek through the mountains.  In fact, we even changed the color guard from red to blue ~ to advance our causes.  However we need to see that the fire has gone out, the map is abandoned, our pilgrimage to social justice has been threatened, if not eviscerated.  He is not leading, he is not in our service, he is not our servant leader.
 
What do you do when the servant leader has abandoned post?  I can tell what NOT to do.  You don’t stand around waiting for them to reappear.  You don’t spend precious time pouring over all the wonderful words he said while marketing the trek.  You don’t “behave” yourself hoping he will be back.  I can also tell you what to do.  You recognize that he is gone.  You have no leader.  The fire is going out.  The food supply is diminishing.  People are suffering.
 
What do you do when there is a goal, a vision and need an organic leader?  You stop insisting you like the one you elected, stop holding him as the visionary, MOVE ON. 

OC PRIDE Speech 2009

Hello Orange County and OC supporters. Thank you for coming today.

We are standing in Briggs territory This is the OC, where the presidential vote has not been democrat since 1936, where you can land at John Wayne airport, visit the Nixon Library and be fed donuts by Rick Warren. Sayid Jarrah is from Irvine and John Locke lived in Tustin and some of the most ridiculous housewives go shopping. The county is 1/3 catholic where Angels play baseball. And it is the breeding ground for some of the bravest, most committed activists in America.

We are the exception here. Maybe we would find more community in SF, Chicago, or NYC, but we are the ones who are here; surrounded by yes on 8 voters and donors. Maybe the anti-gay people have no idea that they began this new coalition; they set our hearts on fire, they galvanized this movement. We are committed to equality and are out again to tell the truth. Most of us want to pair. Humans, by majority, all over the world, want to pair. It is the denying our right to pair that is so abnormal and we cannot let it go. It is the equivalent to saying that we are not capable of committed love. The fact is – such a position is not normal.

One of my activist heroes, Mohandas K Gandhi, knew the power of symbols. In his campaign to make Britain QUIT INDIA, Gandhi used SALT. He led 2,500 Indians to face beatings at the Indian owned, British controlled, Dhrasana Salt Works and led thousands on a march to the sea to make salt.

The symbols and reality that the LBGTQQAI are using are marriage & service.

Let us not get confused, this is not about tuxedos and bridal registries, this is about bullying, torture, murder, suicide, homeless kids, harassment, jobs, insurance, broken families and religious persecution. This is about singles; happy singles and lonely singles. This is about labeling a natural segment of humanity as non-normal, as sinners, as condemned. When Gandhi walked to the sea to make salt, he was demonstrating, to the imperialist British, that the salt, the sea and India belongs to Indians, it was symbolic. We are demonstrating to say love is ours, is yours, is natural, is universal.

Mr. Obama, we are demanding the right to marry, not so we can do a chicken dance, eat layer cake or stand under a chupah ~ but to qualify for family insurance policies, visit our family in the ER, to inherit the property we mutually create, to raise our kids without harassment. We want adopt and raise kids who deserve a loving stable family. We want to be the recognized, legally enabled caretaker for one another in old age.

Mr. Obama, we are demanding the right to openly serve in the military, AND do not get confused, we are talking about protecting the safety of our families too. There are women and men who want to serve to protect their loved ones AND their country. To equate this to a problem in shared showers or fox holes is prurient drivel. From interpreters to gunners, we want to assume responsibility for the freedom and equality we are asking for.

Mr. Obama, this is not wholly about marriage and service, This is about equality under the law with all the rights and responsibilities that come with it. That is why we are marching on October 11th. Those of us who can travel, walk and ride will be there but, we will also be there for the thousands who are hiding, lost, homeless, for youth, for seniors, for the isolated and the lonely who only wish they were in love, being loved and planning to marry. October 11th; each of us will march for more than ourselves. We are the missionaries here in Orange County and in all of the U.S., we demonstrate that even in the most unfriendly, sometimes hostile neighborhoods, where we are marginalized, all we want is to be respected when we demonstrate the normal human response to loneliness – to love, to love one another.

When you see NO ON 8 or I DO or an “=” know that it is a call for love for all Americans.

Woman of Courage Award NWPC ~ thank you

INCASE YOU DON'T HAVE AUDIO ~ here are my notes.

My district is right here in the 46th district and I am represented in Congress by The Honorable Dana Rohrabacher; though I am sure he never thinks of me; certainly not as often as I think of him.  ( sorry Debbie Cook)

My friends ask me why I stay, pointing out that I would fit in better in Cambridge, Georgetown, or Berkeley.  I tell them I am here on missionary work. 

So you can guess how happy I was that in  2006, right here at the Newport Beach Public Library,  Dr. Robert Thurman, Professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia and President of Tibet House was invited to speak.     

His topic was "The Spirituality of True Capitalism (Generosity = Prosperity).  Let me remind you how delicious this was to know, right here in Newport Beach one of the wealthiest counties in the country, he would be talking about the karma of extreme wealth.   

He talked about Bill & Melinda Gates, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and the Buddha’s productive relationship with the merchant class.  Dr Thurman explained that the wealthy are called to a life of generosity.  A rich birth and incarnation is an invitation to care for the poor and giving it away responsibly sets in motion a new birth of prosperity. 

 Finally he accepted questions.  One was about being a monk and his teacher telling him to leave the ashram to be a householder.  He was asked about his children, in particular his famous daughter, Uma. He shared stories about how they kept him humble and centered. 

And then a man in the front row put up his hand.  Dr. Thurman walked directly over to him.   The man asked, "What do you think is the state of Enlightenment in the US and the world?"    Dr. Thurman looked directly at him and said ~

“It is not very good.  You can see it in the fact that the ERA failed."  He continued, "The advancement of the country and the world depends on women."  He mentioned how interesting it is that the highest divorce rate in the US is among Christian Fundamentalists where "women are reaching up to break out of the patriarchy."  He went on to say that men will not lead the world forward; it will be women and the question is will women stand up and take it on.   

As I said, I am here on missionary work.

Finally I want to thank NWPC (and NOW) for publicly endorsing and re-embracing the Equal Rights Amendment in 2009.  It was one of their original priorities and I know that these powerful organizations will make a significant difference in finally and explicitly including gender equality in the US Constitution. 

Picnic with Pride in the OC

When is a picnic more than a picnic?  When it is activism.  When it is community.  When it is PRIDE.  If you look closely at this map, buried among the orange flags (indicating who donated in support of Prop8) you will find William R. Mason Park; site of OC PRIDE.  That is in Irvine, Orange County, California, USA, Earth.  Bring lemonade, sandwiches, the kids, the dog and make a Saturday afternoon something special.  At noon on August 15, you are invited to celebrate Equality.

If you saw the movie Milk or the Times of Harvey Milk or are as old as me, you know that Orange County was the home of John Briggs and one of the famous debates on Prop 6.  We named our airport after John Wayne, built a library for Richard Nixon, voted McCain/Palin, and are 1/3 Catholic, though mega-churches staking their claim, a la Rick Warren.  However, make no mistake, there are thousands of non-straights living and working here in the OC.

OC Pride began in 1988, when anti-gay slurs were not just on protestors’ signs but flown above; attached to a plane.  Over the years, peaking at 9,000 attendees, OC Pride  eventually lost steam and simply evaporated.  But the defeat of prop 8 spawned coalition building, protests and a whole new generation of activists.  Led by the Orange County Equality Coalition (OCEC), Orange County is OUT & PROUD.

Starting small, with an eye on competing with Long Beach, WeHo and San Diego in the future, OC is partying all day, Saturday, August 15 and everyone is invited.  Picnic at Mason Park in Irvine, After Party at Steelhead Brewery and know that you are a part of history.
  
Pride Sponsors:
Men Alive - Orange County Gay Men's Chorus.
Laguna Woods Democratic Club
Pacific Shore NOW
Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties,
Steelhead Brewing Company, Irvine
United Congregational Church

Speakers:
Comic Ryan Hill
Former Irvine Mayor & Congressional Candidate Beth Krom
Activist Zoe Nicholson
Jenny Pizer or Lambda Legal
Rev. Paul Tellstrom of IUCC

Orange County LGBT Pride!
Sat. August 15, 2009, noon-4:00pm
William R. Mason Regional Park, Shelter 6
18712 University Drive, Irvine
(no alcohol please)

Pride After Party   4:00 – 8:00 pm
Steelhead Brewery, 4175 Campus Drive, Irvine

Also published at EQCA's California Ripple Effect.