we will overcome

when i started this blog entry a few days ago, my only relationship with proposition 8 was that i am a lesbian american who could chalk up the passing of the bill as yet another right lost for not fitting into the heteronormative society that some people try so hard to legislate into existence. now, only a few days later, i am writing emails to lexington officals asking for them to come out to a nationwide protest who's lexington event i am helping organize. in response to an "i can help" email i sent i have been asked to make posters, help publicize, lead chants and potentially even speak. my life is nuts.

i will now use this post i was writing as the platform of my potential speech as it is better to be prepared, thank you [mormon] boy scouts.


Melissa Gross
Protest Against the Passing of Proposition 8
Lexington, KY
2:15 (ish) pm


United for Love

As a young girl I spent more time practicing to become a stunt double than dreaming about my wedding. That's not to say it didn't cross my mind a time or twelve and I know plenty of men and women who have dedicated countless daydreams to that special day. On November 4th this year, three states in this great country of ours voted to take those dreams away from the GLBTQ community. People are gathered on the steps of city halls across the nation today to to tell America that we want our dreams back.

Equal rights are civil rights and we cannot sit by while the government tries to marginalize them. Californians, Arizonans, and Floridians lost the equal right to marry this year. Citizens of Arkansas may now only adopt children if they are in a legally recognized marriage. Men and women in domestic partnerships and civil unions are still denied the 1,138 afforded to men and women in federally recognized marriages. Some of these rights being denied are survivor benefits, hospital visitation, tax exemptions, and domestic violence intervention. You and I both know that this is not acceptable. Seeing our rights in shambles like this, we know that things need to change.

This year the outcome of the presidential election signaled a change in the tide of American politics though, that day, the tide washed over GLBTQ Americans and left us in the wake of approved constitutional amendments and pieces of legislature in 4 different states. It is in protest of proposition 8, the amendment passed in California restricting marriage to one man and one woman that has us here today. The passing of proposition 8 came as a surprise and it's narrow victory makes the loss hurt that much worse. People have become quick to assign blame to make the hurt easier but we must succumb to such pettiness. It is no more the fault of a single religious institution than it is mine for not being more active in the fight when it counted the most. Through grassroots efforts and personal political responsibility we can respond to these set back s in a way that will have our voices heard.

We must not lose hope. The passing of Proposition 8 has mobilized more activists than the Yes on 8 campaign could have ever imagined. We have seen a terrible thing pass through ballot boxes and into law and we know now how important our own political involvement can be. I watched my political efficacy get results when the man I voted for this year accepted the American presidency. I only wish I had been able to cast my vote against proposition 8. People have turned out in great numbers since the votes were tallied in protests across the united states and today we are uniting ourselves in protest to tell the people that equality is an American value - that the right to a loving marriage cannot be limited by sex and that, as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Hope for our future will take office this January but more importantly it lies in each and everyone of us. We are the UNITED States of America. We can bring the change that people are trying so hard to prevent if we believe in ourselves and the power of dissent.

Roger Baldwin, the founder of the ACLU, once said that “Silence never won rights. They are not handed down from above; they are forced by pressures from below.” Let us lift our voices and cause that pressure. When 18,000 couples have to question the validity of their marriages in California we must speak out. When our brothers and sisters in Arkansas are banned from adopting children because they are not in legally recognized marriages we must cry out. When a man or a woman cannot visit his or her partner in the hospital, when we're still fighting a battle for acceptance that we've been fighting for the past 100 years, when love is no longer enough to join in the bonds of marriage – WE MUST FIGHT ON.

For, We ARE the People of the United States, and in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, we DID ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Equality is an American value. It is an inalienable right. Let us stand up for what we believe in, for what we know is ours. Love cannot be bound to statues and limited by government regulations. We are united for a common purpose. We are united for marriage equality. We are united for love.