Teabaggers For Marriage Equality!
As a gay person, giving money to the DFL and expecting to get your civil rights in return is like dropping a quarter in a pay phone and expecting the phone to jump off the wall and dance around.
With 2 to 1 majorities in both houses of the legislature, in the off-election year of 2009, our old friends in the DFL dominated legislature, through buck-passing, foot-dragging and lame-excuse-making did abolutely NOTHING to move marriage equality legislation forward. It was the best opportunity we have had to make progress on marriage equality in Minnesota and it was simply wasted. Why? Well, they pat us on the head, they show up at our Pride events to tell us how great they are, they promise us the moon, but when they get the opportunity to do something, they turn their backs on us because they don't respect us. And, they don't respect us because they think they have nothing for fear from us...and that is OUR FAULT.
Remember last summer when all those clueless, rude, anti-healthcare reform "Teabaggers" flooded town hall meetings across the country, screaming bloody murder and scaring the hell out of the Democrats? Well, they won! We are not going to get meaningful healthcare reform and it is because the Democrats, on a basic level, are too afraid of the militant right wing to do the right thing. It's the same in our case. DFL legislators are afraid of the right wing crazies tying up their phones and staff people with angry rants, and showing up at the Capitol getting up in their faces. Indeed, when I started demonstrating for marriage equality on a daily basis at the Capitol several years ago, I had DFL legislators come up to me and whine, "You're just gonna bring the nuts back!" They fear the nuts so much that they prefer to have us just shut up about our civil rights so they can avoid the right wing activists. This is something we need to learn from. Walking across our backs is the path of least resistance for the DFL. Let's change that by standing up.
With 2 to 1 majorities in both houses of the legislature, in the off-election year of 2009, our old friends in the DFL dominated legislature, through buck-passing, foot-dragging and lame-excuse-making did abolutely NOTHING to move marriage equality legislation forward. It was the best opportunity we have had to make progress on marriage equality in Minnesota and it was simply wasted. Why? Well, they pat us on the head, they show up at our Pride events to tell us how great they are, they promise us the moon, but when they get the opportunity to do something, they turn their backs on us because they don't respect us. And, they don't respect us because they think they have nothing for fear from us...and that is OUR FAULT.
Remember last summer when all those clueless, rude, anti-healthcare reform "Teabaggers" flooded town hall meetings across the country, screaming bloody murder and scaring the hell out of the Democrats? Well, they won! We are not going to get meaningful healthcare reform and it is because the Democrats, on a basic level, are too afraid of the militant right wing to do the right thing. It's the same in our case. DFL legislators are afraid of the right wing crazies tying up their phones and staff people with angry rants, and showing up at the Capitol getting up in their faces. Indeed, when I started demonstrating for marriage equality on a daily basis at the Capitol several years ago, I had DFL legislators come up to me and whine, "You're just gonna bring the nuts back!" They fear the nuts so much that they prefer to have us just shut up about our civil rights so they can avoid the right wing activists. This is something we need to learn from. Walking across our backs is the path of least resistance for the DFL. Let's change that by standing up.
posted by Doug @ 11:55 AM
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