You may have guessed...

...that I am somewhat dissatisfied with the actions of our soi-disant 'allies', the Democratic Party.

Guess what? You're right.

We do have allies within the party, certainly many more than among the ranks of the GOP, but only the most principled stick by us when the chips are down. For the majority, the LBGTI community is a constituency to get votes and money from - but an embarrassing one.

And we aid and abet that attitude with our behavior.

We treat ourselves as less worthy, and apologize for even bringing the subject of our treatment up. When we are threatened, we don't act to defend ourselves; we don't want to be visible. The campaign fighting the Kentucky amendment needs more people to canvass, but the community is deaf to their pleas. I have had less trouble getting straight people to volunteer; the gay community is afraid they will melt in the light of day - or standing on someone's doorstep. They act ashamed of themselves, which reinforces the views of the public.

The campaigns across the country trying to fight the rash of assaults in state constitutions are having trouble sending a direct message to the public, because they are afraid it will backfire on them. Instead, the Missouri folks tried claiming that the amendment was unnecessary because same-sex marriage was already illegal. This didn't work, because everybody knew that a court ruling could overturn it. I suspect the public viewed it as dodging the issue, and assumed that even gay people knew it was 'sinful' - reinforcing the party line of the Christian Right.

It is time for us to retake the high road from the bigots. We are the ones advocating equality, commitment, and protection of families. We are the ones not bowing to the spiritual slavers that have terrified the politicians. We are the heroes here. It's time to begin acting like them!

Sarah G