Stone Walls and Bare Hands
So we lost in Maine.
I really want to say that's ok, we moved past California last year and learned from it and built on it, and we'll do the same with this, one day we'll win one of these things, and that's all true, and I am saying that, just...
I think for the sake of sanity and community and not being too bitter, it's worth pausing for a second and recognising that maybe right now, tonight, moving forward feels kinda hollow (with the absolute qualification that it won't forever, and moving forward should be top of the agenda asap ;) ).
In less than 23 days, the senate inquiry into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill here in Australia is going to report, and I know how much that's going to matter to us here. I can't even begin to imagine how much this must matter and how this must feel to those people in Maine tonight who really thought they almost had it, who smiled and cheered through the tension with everyone else all over the world nine hours ago and now are feeling it worst of all.
We lost a year ago, and we lost again today by it's looking like about 6 points, and the fact that 240K people were on our side doesn't stop it feeling horrible that 270K weren't. Nothing stops it feeling horrible that two-hundred and seventy thousand people (plus the votes yet to be counted) in a state of 1.3 million dislike us enough and are afraid of us enough that they got out of bed and went down to vote specifically to stop us legally marking our relationships to the world the same way as any other couple.
That hurts, and it hurts because it feels like one more nail in the 'public majority will never be on their side' coffin, and it hurts because it's been a year of hard work by brilliant people and it feels like nothing's changed, and it hurts because there are people devestated tonight and that should always hurt a little.
But now that I've gotten that out, and admittedly had a couple of drinks (only a couple! Really! :P Cross my heart ;) ), and done that man this sucks bit, there's a whole lot of other stuff to get on with.
It's going to be a while before the people in Maine and the people who worked directly on the campaign can let this go, but for the rest of us; there were victories today. We won in Washington, only narrowly, and that'll disappoint a lot of people because it raises serious doubts about when it's realistic to think about marriage equality there, but we won. The queers of Washington now have many rights and recognitions that they did not before. Like us here earlier in the year and different groups at different times, they've had a really down to earth practical victory that will change the conditions in which they live their lives.
We also had lots of smaller victories - the anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo, the first openly gay council members in Detroit, Akron, St. Petersburg (FL) and Maplewood (Minn.), an openly lesbian woman tied in a run-off for mayor of Houston, an openly gay man tied in a run-off for mayor of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and a Georgia candidate in a run-off to be the first openly lesbian black woman in the Georgia legislature.
Those may not sound like big victories individually, but they are important, particularly for two reasons that immediately spring to mind:
Firstly, they're important to the people who live in those places, and these are not small numbers of people. These are big things locally, and that makes a big grass roots difference.
And secondly, when you pile them all up like that, it sure seems like a whole lot of queers running for stuff, doesn't it? Once upon a time in the very recent past, we were (supposedly) a tiny abberation. We're still fighting some really fundamental battles, but we're also fighting for marriage where we were fighting for legalisation, we've got outstanding LGBT role models in every sphere of life and in governing roles worldwide to tell us it's okay to be out and proud, and we are moving forward, even if sometimes, occasionally it feels like a whole lot of losing.
Sometimes moving forward's an excercise in rhetoric, and that's ok. Because we get past the rhetoric, and we get past needing to psych each other up, and we gather momentum again, and we keep going.
Every wall breaks if you beat it enough, even if it's made of stone, and even if you're only beating it with your hands. We might get sore hands in the process, but we'll get there.
(Aussies, 23 days to go, then marching on the 28th! I'll be overseas *fail*, but if anyone needs details, hit me up or go to http://www.equallove.info/)
I really want to say that's ok, we moved past California last year and learned from it and built on it, and we'll do the same with this, one day we'll win one of these things, and that's all true, and I am saying that, just...
I think for the sake of sanity and community and not being too bitter, it's worth pausing for a second and recognising that maybe right now, tonight, moving forward feels kinda hollow (with the absolute qualification that it won't forever, and moving forward should be top of the agenda asap ;) ).
In less than 23 days, the senate inquiry into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill here in Australia is going to report, and I know how much that's going to matter to us here. I can't even begin to imagine how much this must matter and how this must feel to those people in Maine tonight who really thought they almost had it, who smiled and cheered through the tension with everyone else all over the world nine hours ago and now are feeling it worst of all.
We lost a year ago, and we lost again today by it's looking like about 6 points, and the fact that 240K people were on our side doesn't stop it feeling horrible that 270K weren't. Nothing stops it feeling horrible that two-hundred and seventy thousand people (plus the votes yet to be counted) in a state of 1.3 million dislike us enough and are afraid of us enough that they got out of bed and went down to vote specifically to stop us legally marking our relationships to the world the same way as any other couple.
That hurts, and it hurts because it feels like one more nail in the 'public majority will never be on their side' coffin, and it hurts because it's been a year of hard work by brilliant people and it feels like nothing's changed, and it hurts because there are people devestated tonight and that should always hurt a little.
But now that I've gotten that out, and admittedly had a couple of drinks (only a couple! Really! :P Cross my heart ;) ), and done that man this sucks bit, there's a whole lot of other stuff to get on with.
It's going to be a while before the people in Maine and the people who worked directly on the campaign can let this go, but for the rest of us; there were victories today. We won in Washington, only narrowly, and that'll disappoint a lot of people because it raises serious doubts about when it's realistic to think about marriage equality there, but we won. The queers of Washington now have many rights and recognitions that they did not before. Like us here earlier in the year and different groups at different times, they've had a really down to earth practical victory that will change the conditions in which they live their lives.
We also had lots of smaller victories - the anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo, the first openly gay council members in Detroit, Akron, St. Petersburg (FL) and Maplewood (Minn.), an openly lesbian woman tied in a run-off for mayor of Houston, an openly gay man tied in a run-off for mayor of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and a Georgia candidate in a run-off to be the first openly lesbian black woman in the Georgia legislature.
Those may not sound like big victories individually, but they are important, particularly for two reasons that immediately spring to mind:
Firstly, they're important to the people who live in those places, and these are not small numbers of people. These are big things locally, and that makes a big grass roots difference.
And secondly, when you pile them all up like that, it sure seems like a whole lot of queers running for stuff, doesn't it? Once upon a time in the very recent past, we were (supposedly) a tiny abberation. We're still fighting some really fundamental battles, but we're also fighting for marriage where we were fighting for legalisation, we've got outstanding LGBT role models in every sphere of life and in governing roles worldwide to tell us it's okay to be out and proud, and we are moving forward, even if sometimes, occasionally it feels like a whole lot of losing.
Sometimes moving forward's an excercise in rhetoric, and that's ok. Because we get past the rhetoric, and we get past needing to psych each other up, and we gather momentum again, and we keep going.
Every wall breaks if you beat it enough, even if it's made of stone, and even if you're only beating it with your hands. We might get sore hands in the process, but we'll get there.
(Aussies, 23 days to go, then marching on the 28th! I'll be overseas *fail*, but if anyone needs details, hit me up or go to http://www.equallove.info/)