About a month ago I stood in front of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Long Beach to protest their support of Proposition 8, which denies same-sex couples the right to wed.
I taped my mouth and bound my hands, representing how my human right to freedom and my freedom of expression had been violated. Other protestors held signs and paced near the intersection of Clark Avenue and Anaheim Boulevard.
The solidarity among the protestors was impressive. Former church members, members of the transgender community, Republican and Democrats joined hands in demonstrating our discontent with the discrimination Mormons had supported with their dollars, as traffic honked in support.
But I was quite disappointed when one of the protestors approached a car leaving the church parking lot. He told the woman driver that this was a new era where the president-elect opposed the discrimination of gays and lesbian and that Democrats were going to bring equanimity to country.
Not only did the protestor steer away from the focus of the protest and isolate Log Cabin Republicans (a group I don’t endorse or am a member of), who also would like to achieve equal rights for same-sex couples, but also, he took an opportunity to educate an ignorant human being about our concerns and used it to verbally attack the woman.
There is no question in my mind that taxpaying, social contributing adults of all genders and sexual orientations have a right to marry and that it should not be left to voters or religious fanatics to decide a basic right. And, while I believe in the power of protests and boycotts as a form of education, we must be careful not to stoop to other people’s level and trample on their rights of expression.
This morning I read a letter, Human Rights Campaign leader Joe Solmonese published in the Washington Post Op-ed section to President-elect Barack Obama regarding the clergy choice he made for the invocation during the presidential inauguration.
Mr. Obama chose Rev. Rick Warren, a strong proponent of Proposition 8, to deliver the invocation. Solmonese called Obama’s choice “…a genuine blow to LGBT Americans.”
Maybe so, but doesn’t Obama have the right to choose whomever he wants to his party. I mean think about it, when an average Joe (Plumber or No Plumber) has a two friends who don’t get along and he or she shares an interest with both people, does he have chose who invites over for Christmas?
I understand that in grade school we often tell our friends they should not speak to our “enemies,” but aren’t we adults.
Instead of shunning others from working with us toward equality, we probably should use their common friendship with those who oppose us as an opportunity to create discourse through a common advocate.
Let’s stop wasting time with pettiness and start doing what is needed to change things, whether it is changing minds through conversations and mediations or fundraising to fight an injustice on legal grounds.
