Human rights for all!

Boulder Pride's Board President David Ensign and Board Member Jackson Dreiling add their voices for Human Rights at the MLK rally in Boulder today.

I attended the Human Rights Celebration with my family and it was a wonderful experience! A few of the youth speakers did slam poetry and it was inspirational. We then walked as a group from the Courthouse to Boulder High where the fair was to occur. On the way, we passed by areas where hate crimes had occurred, with a youth standing to indicate the nature of the crime (anti-black hate crime happened here. anti-gay hate crime happened here. anti- hispanic hate crime happened here.) It was very moving. There were workshops, great food, and activities for teens and youngsters to participate in. There were also several tables from different groups in Boulder County working to end inequality and promote a better future for all.

It made me proud to be part of this community and part of this work!

My Pride Month Essay

Every year, as we dive into Pride Month, I have to reflect on what, exactly, are we proud of? I can't say what everyone is proud of, but I can tell you a few things I am proud of.

I am proud of how far our community has come. Corporations market to us; our national organizations are participating in federal conversations at the white house; we are organizing ourselves more and more effectively to create a world where we are recognized as equal participants in society. There are more services for our communities and our youth. Still too few, but more than there were 20 or 30 years ago.

I am proud of all of us who have survived coming out. I came out a few times, in different ways, and it was heart wrenching to lose friends and family because my way of loving and being was too different for them to understand or accept. Every time each one of us does this, we humanize our community and our experiences. We are making profound changes in the world by living honestly. That is powerful, unstoppable, and absolutely something to be proud of.

I am proud of the ways in which we have eaten our words and backed up when we have made mistakes. I am sure we will have to do it again, but it means something that we are really stopping to recognize that queer doesn't just mean the most mainstream parts of our community. And that to connect to a broader representation of who we are, we need to start thinking about the inclusive nature of social justice. Organizations like the Task Force really lead the way with their focus on inclusion.

I am proud of the way we keep going, even when things are difficult. My favorite saying: fall down 6 times, get up 7, really applies to our community. So many of us have experienced incredible losses and defeats in this journey of change and hope. Activists who have worked for decades who are still working to make this world into something a little better for us all. In 1992, Hawaii was one of the first states to pass an anti-marriage act, inappropriately named DOMA. Now Iowa has marriage equality. The tide will roll in and we will get up as many times as we need to.

Come celebrate your pride at any one of the many events happening in Boulder and Denver this month. And tell me why you are proud.

Why Pass a Hate Crimes Act?

Things that make a difference.

Angie Zapata's killer was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison yesterday. I wonder if he understands what he did. I have a twelve year old daughter and when I think of her leaving this earth in 6 years ... well I don't want to think about it. There is a lot in this world that needs changing, but I want my children to have a chance to experience life. No matter how many years her killer spends behind bars, Angie won't get that chance. Her family will have to live without her. Every day.

I don't really have a lot of connection to the idea of locking people up, though. I'd rather see him spend the rest of his life doing good in the community. I know, we aren't really set up for the kind of supervision this kind of thing requires, but rather than have my taxes support him for 50-60 years of brooding, I'd rather he spend his time giving back to the community he took from. Maybe raising money for the transgender community to do education in Greely and Colorado?

I want to see some kind of sustainable change, some kind of movement, towards a better world. In some ways, this conviction was that. It sent a message, a strong message, that we value the lives of transgender people. Sadly, it's a message that needed to be sent.

Same Sex Kiss Day!!

So the folks at Join the Impact have decided it's time to celebrate our love! They suggest showing up at Starbucks on April 15 at 7:15, 12:15, 5:15, or 8:15 and kissing someone of your gender. Lover, friend, best friend. Whatever.

Read more at their website . Guerrilla art meets random kissing. How can you go wrong?

Square Peg, Round Hole.

We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal.

"The age of identity politics is dead," at least according to a cadre of activists recently gathered here in Denver. They might be right. We needed to be identity focused for a time. I went to college at a time when english teachers were still arguing over the inclusive nature of the word men. Sentences like like "all men should breastfeed their babies" brought to the light uncomfortable reality that while we wanted "mankind" to mean everyone, it left a lot of people out of the equation. So we started breaking it up, nationally and even in our subcultures!.

In the 70s it was "gay" culture. Now we have an alphabet soup (LGBTIQAGNCPP are all letters I have heard used and I bet there are more) trying to encompass the fullness of our community. The challenge is that people are not static. And as we change, grow, and discover, the movement we are trying to build must change and grow with us. Queer groups across the country are recognizing that to truly reach our people, we must engage more than just the queer identity of our community members. 

Mankind is not inclusive enough. Neither is fighting for simply "queer" rights. Many of us see our queer self as an important part of us, but it's not the whole package. The power and the challenge of queer organizing is that we span the entire spectrum. There is no factor to determine queerness, beyond who we love, so race, religion, body size, socio-economic status, national origin ... the list of communities we represent is truly staggering, including straight people, because our allies need to be counted. 

We needed to name ourselves. We needed to claim our individual identities and experiences. And I still think we do. I use queer because it's a simple word that covers the complexity of my experiences. But now that we have found a way to be individual and separate, we need to find a way to come together. Not to sanitize or overpower those identities, but to empower our movement to truly effect the changes that will guarantee equal rights, for everyone, even the identities we haven't found yet!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that we are all created equal ...

İSi Se Puede!

Cesar Chavez has a compelling history of dedication and work to advance the condition of farm workers in America. Recently, Dolores Huerta, one of the original co-foundation of the United Farm Workers (UFW) spoke in Denver at Creating Change. The UFW has been fighting for equal rights for immigrant workers for over 40 years. What's even more interesting is that their fight for equality has also been consistently inclusive of the LGBT community. Equality is equality and they get it.


 You can learn more about this amazing organization at their website.   I think one of the stronger choices we have made as a movement is to start counting our allies and realizing that we truly are stronger, together.    

Uniting Families Act

The Uniting Families Act is a radical piece of legislation intended to allow fair immigration for same-sex couples. Read about the work they are doing on their website and get involved!


On March 16, the  Washington Post published a short article talking about this very issue:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/15/AR2009031501669.html
First Paragraph:
"THE UNITING American Families Act would allow gay and lesbian
Americans and permanent residents to sponsor their foreign-born
partners for legal residency in the United States. The bill,
introduced last month in the Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and in
the House by Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), would add "permanent partner"
and "permanent partnership" after the words "spouse" and "marriage" in
relevant sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If passed,
it would right a gross unfairness. "

Creating Change 2009

This is my third Creating Change conference, for which I feel very lucky and also a little disappointed. Lucky that I've been able to attend 3. Disappointed that I didn't understand what it was earlier in my life, so I could have attended more of them. Activists are often more hopeful than they have a right to be, especially given the last 8 years. But put us all in a room (or very large hotel) together and that hope blossoms into something magical.

I love the workshops and I usually learn things from the presenters. But the secret to enjoying the conference is really about the things that happen outside the workshops. The early morning coffee meet-ups where two acquaintances decide to make a difference, now, about an issue that matters. A new organization is suddenly born. The hallway conversations where those of who have worked in the field, up to our elbows in community drama and conservative opposition, finally comprehend we are not alone.

And the NGLTF is boots-on-the-ground organization. They truly try to be the change they want to see in the world. Just watching what they do gives me a better idea of what I could and should be doing in my own community to create a better world for all of us!

So, next year, attend the conference in Dallas, TX, you will be amazed!

Transgender connection.

This American Life recently had a short segment on two girls, born in male bodies, who met at a conference in Seattle. The summary below is posted on their website, but you can also stream the audio and hear the story for yourself. It seems a bit amazing, and slightly hopeful, that the conversations around our transgender community are starting to be full of hope. I envision a world where are stories are seen as simply one more aspect of the human experience, rather than something set apart and different. Until then, it's nice to see stories like this.

Act Two. Tom Girls. Lilly and Thomasina have a lot in common. They’re both 8 years old. And they were both born boys, although it became clear pretty early on that they'd prefer to be girls. There aren’t all that many kids in the world like them, but recently, at a conference in Seattle on transgender parenting, they met. And they immediately hit it off. They could talk about things with each other that they'd never been able to share with other friends back home. And that’s comforting, even if they never see each other after the conference ends. Producer Mary Beth Kirchner tells the story, with production help from Rebecca Weiker. (17 minutes) Song: "Somewhere Out There," The soundtrack to "American Tail"

World Aids Day

Today is a day to mourn the losses we have faced as a community and a day to celebrate the gains we have made. Close to 30 years ago, AIDS was killing us. Admitting you were ill meant censure, job loss, and isolation. There are still challenges to this disease. There is still social stigma. But there is also federal funding, despite the last few years of abstinence only blockades, there is more hope than there was. In some ways our hope has been a stumbling block. The new generation doesn't respect the depth of consequences that AIDS can have for them because they haven't watched their friends dying. 

Join Boulder County AIDS Project tonight for their World AIDS Day Concert, Boulder Dinner Theatre. Contact Kate Hibberd for details kate@bcap.org.

Rabble Rousing.

I'll be honest. I am done with people being brushed aside because they are different. I was so excited that Detre and the Bias Incident Hotline put together a rally tonight to protest the recent rash of hate crimes here in Boulder. I spoke on behalf of Boulder Pride. Because to be queer is to come from all communities. Queer people are poor and wealthy. Queer people come from every race and religion. Queer people come from every geography. I spoke because I believe in the importance of unity.

There is a poem I am sure you have all heard, but I want to share it tonight.

When first they came for the criminals I did not speak

Then they began to take the Jews

When they fetched the people who were members of trade unions

I did not speak

When they took the bible students

Rounded up the homosexuals

Then they gathered up the immigrants and Gypsies

I did not speak

Eventually they came for me

And there was no one left to speak

I believe there is a power structure in America that fears the oppressed. I believe there are people who use our differences to divide us from one another, with the knowledge that if we stand together, we are unstoppable. I believe the recent hate crimes against minorites and women are expressions of that fear. And I believe that if we stand together and speak out, but also more importantly, act out, that we are unstoppable.

Tonight we marched and learned. But it cannot stop here. It cannot stop tonight. One night is not enough. You must do more than you think you are able. You must reach higher than you believe you can.  One step at a time, we will change the world we live in. Because together we are unstoppable.