Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

Chris Rudisill.

 

While I thought about honoring the passing of Whitney Houston with a reflection of songs that touched my life – I realized that I should stick with my original plan of providing an updated look at the presidential election and Proposition 8 in California. Spending my afternoon listening to old Houston albums and remembering my younger years, with tissues in hand would probably be too much to handle right now. Her passing, however, does provide us a chance to remember the unmatched vocal talent that Houston had, forget the crap that became her life and remember what those classic songs meant to us – how they touched our hearts and affected our lives.

A friend of mine, Joey Guerra who writes for the Houston Chronicle remembered first seeing Houston when he was 12- years-old reflecting on “her long, sparkling, green gown with a slit up the side” and “that voice – sweet and high, commanding and powerful, soulful and poppy all at once . . . not of this world.”

Another friend and reader posted on Facebook that through the years and the struggles with life, Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” had served as the most inspiration – “A lonely place to be . . . so I learned to depend on me.” Her talent was remarkable but the songs gave us hope and taught us about love, heartbreak and courage – to love ourselves, when we often didn’t feel like we had the strength to. To LGBT people her strength meant even more in our teenage years when we dealt with our own sexuality and bullying from our peers. It’s sad that the way she inspired us reflected what seems to be the one thing she was lacking the most in the years leading up to her death.

Today, we’re faced with an onslaught of anti-gay speech. It often seems like it never goes away – just gets richer and more eloquent. Politicians spout the same hate-filled language that they say shouldn’t exist in schools. They fight over individual liberties like they’re playing dodge ball on the playground and trade us off as quickly as they befriend us – sound familiar? Where’s my Whitney Houston album?

Last week, I wrote about the importance of being vigilant in the political process this year, making sure that your voices are heard and not to let down your guard for fear of stronger, more damaging attacks on our community.

We had some great victories last week. Washington became the seventh state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to legalize same-sex marriage. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the measure into law on Monday and it will take effect on June 7, but opponents on multiple fronts are already preparing to fight.

A week before, a federal appeals court declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, saying it was a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has given opponents time to appeal the decision before ordering the state to start allowing same-sex marriages again. The judges also stated that the decision only applies to the state of California, although the court has jurisdiction in nine Western states.

In addition, legislative committees in Maryland heard testimony on same-sex marriage recently and New Jersey lawmakers are expected to vote soon, with a vote in the Senate scheduled for Monday and in the Assembly today. Maine could also see same-sex marriage proposal on the November ballot. So far, proposed amendments to ban same-sex marriage constitutionally will be on ballots in North Carolina in May and Minnesota in November.

The battle is heating up and spreading across the country once again. It’s not like it ever went away, but it seemed to die down for a bit only to be rekindled by the election season. Maybe it’s in anticipation of “traditional family values” rhetoric which will only continue to blast across the nation’s airwaves as we near November. Marriage equality seems to be gaining some traction this time though, unlike when the tactic was used against voters and LGBT people in the 2000 election. Many people believe that the gay marriage hot button was used to ignite conservative voters to get to the polls then, knowing that while they were taking away equal rights from gays and lesbians, they’d go ahead and elect another Bush – just like the religious right had told them to.

We already saw the effects of the overturn of Proposition 8. I have a strong belief that it could have easily played a hand in helping Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum gain some primary wins. The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court was monumental. It stages the case for either a move to the Supreme Court or for additional legal battles to erupt across the nation – in many political battleground states. The same day that Prop 8 was overturned, Santorum had surprisingly large primary wins in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. The candidate, who builds his platform on his conservative stance on social issues, a return to God and very anti-gay beliefs was probably thanking the “Almighty” for his luck last week.

So what’s next? Well, as far as Proposition 8 goes, opponents of same-sex marriage could do one of two things – ask the full court of 11 judges to review the case (the decision on Tuesday was made by a three-judge panel) or appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. For months – even years, experts have suggested that the case was inevitable to reach the highest ranking justice system in the country before too long – that California would be the catalyst that would decide for the nation. Many even think that Tuesday’s decision was written specifically toward Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is seen as the swing vote in the case. “I think Judge (Stephen) Reinhardt absolutely wrote a narrow decision as if he were writing a letter directly to Justice Kennedy,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor. The chances of the Supreme Court taking the case are very high.

As for the Presidential campaign – well, it’s only February. The prospect is just depressing – we have months ahead of battles, name-calling, religious separation of people and anti-gay rhetoric ahead I’m afraid.

“I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be. Everybody’s searching for a hero. People need someone to look up to. I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs. A lonely place to be … so I learned to depend on me.”

The best thing we can do to remember Houston and prepare for the coming year is to find that greatest love again – inside of all of us.

OCCUPY MARRIAGE EQUALITY

With the organizing help of Occupy Myrtle Beach, Lora Talbot (a female) and Benji Herndon (a transgender male) attempted to get a marriage license on Tuesday at the Horry County Courthouse. The couple, along with relatives and friends, went to the courthouse in downtown Conway at 2:30 p.m. as part of a national movement, National Freedom to Marry Day which was started in 1999 by Lambda Legal. The national gay rights advocacy law firm started NFMD as a way to show resistance to discriminatory state marriage laws and call for full marriage equality at a federal level. “Immediately after they request the license, the couple and their supporters will participate in a protest to resist unjust laws and call for full equality under federal law for all people,” reads an excerpt from a press release by Occupy Myrtle Beach.

The most notable NFMD happened in San Francisco, when in 2004 then-Mayor Gavin Newsome directed the county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couple. The issue ignited the marriage battle in California and eventually led to Proposition 8 and the current legal battles there.

Demonstrations are now organized nationwide by Marriage Equality U.S.A., a gay rights group, to protest court and voters’ decisions denying marriage equality. Herndon and Talbot are the first LGBT couple to attempt the process in Horry County. “It was much more heartbreaking than I think either one of us realized,” Talbot told The Sun News on Tuesday. “We knew they were going to tell us no. We knew what the situation was.” Calls to Judge Dierdre W. Edmonds in Horry County were not returned.

As stated on Occupy Myrtle Beach’s Web site (occupymb.org), “never forget that a small group of dedicated individuals can change the world. We are the people of Horry County and we deserve rights. Help me ensure they do not slip further from our grasp.”

Have a thought, comment or Out & About event? Send Chris Rudisill an e-mail to SouthernGayWriter@gmail.com. You can also follow along on Facebook.com @SouthernGayWriter for more news and events.