Okay, time for a clarification. A number of the folks who read my blog have written me and I didn't say this when I wrote my most recent post about my grandparents' contribution to the cause of the gay community, but part of my goal in writing it was to see what kind of rhetorical fire I could generate in myself and still have an articulate essay.
I originally had a paragraph in that essay that softened my statement about those who are not fighting tooth and nail for gay rights. It discussed how people who work to elect people who care about getting the most good for the most people and about those who activate folks that might otherwise be tacet bystanders. Friends, what I mean is, could you stand by and watch someone say something totally repugnant about queer people and do nothing? If it's not hard for you to restrain yourself (as sometimes becomes necessary for the sake of whatever we're after at that time) then that's what I'm talking about. If gay baiting and gay bashing doesn't make you wonder about humanity, then that's what I'm talking about.
Caring about the rights of people with psychological illness, those who are homeless or even those that are abused is righteous and helps to serve the common good. It gives the people you help a sense of empowerment and let me tell you, it's not the anti-gay folk that are out there fighting those fights and the people that you help understand that. Your efforts and whatever mindful support you give my cause, color it in a way that makes it easier for those you activate to side with me in simple ways.
At any rate, perhaps I should have left the paragraph in to prevent so many of you from feeling like I may have been offering up an attack on you. Take the spirit of what I meant, which I'm sure few of you missed, and consider that the message of that essay.
I was doing an image search on Google about something or other, and I stumbled upon this site. It's excellent! Your whole thing, I mean. I agree with a lot of what you say and some of the posts are just hilarious!
The other thing is that when you said Cornell, I thought you meant Cornell University, but then you said, "Mount Vernon," and guess what? My eyes popped out of my head because I've lived there my whole life. I currently attend the high school!
Have a wonderful day. You probably get a couple days off for Thanksgiving, so have fun with them. :)
Posted by: Melanie | Nov 24, 2004 at 11:01 AM