When the Walls Come Tumblin’ Down

In 1987 Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear down the Berlin wall.

Eastern Bloc propaganda claimed the wall had been erected to protect its population from elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in Eastern Germany. For decades the wall divided Berliners giving rise to a widespread sense of desperation and oppression.

In the speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Reagan said, “We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together,” concluding his speech saying, “if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity ……. tear down this wall.”

Many believe these words uttered by the “leader of the free world,” the President of the United States of America, the country “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal” signaled the beginning of the end of the Eastern Bloc. In the months and years following Reagan’s declaration, the wall came tumbling down.

In 1996, a wall was figuratively erected across America. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state or political subdivision is required to recognize a same-sex marriage treated as a marriage in another state and codifies the non-recognition of same-sex marriage for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns.

DOMA was discriminatory and divisive but to many of its proponents as necessary as the Berlin wall to protect the American population from elements conspiring to prevent the will of the fundamentalist far right in building a “Christian” state in the United States of America.

Despite challenges in Massachusetts and California, which found Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, changes in public opinion on marriage equality and legalization of same sex marriage or civil unions in a handful of states and the District of Colombia, DOMA remained the elephant in the room.

But then the walls of DOMA started crumbling down in 2011when the Obama administration announced that although it would continue to enforce the law, the Department of Justice would no longer defend it in court.

Like a weeble, DOMA wobbled but it wouldn’t fall down – propped up in part by the House of Representatives, which undertook the defense of the law on behalf of the federal government in place of the Department of Justice .
But once again the President of the United States, Barack Obama, took a verbal sledgehammer to a wall of discrimination and oppression dividing our country saying: “it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” And the dismantling of the wall against gay Americans began crumbling, tumbling down.

Then at last the word we’ve been waiting for. In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law deprives gay couples of the rights and privileges granted to heterosexual couples was unconstitutional. This ruling will more than likely send the battle over DOMA to the Supreme Court.

With over 30 states having constitutional amendments or laws prohibiting same-sex marriage on the books, does repeal of DOMA matter? Oh yes it does!

DOMA deprives same-sex couples of over 1,100 federal rights, benefits, and responsibilities of marriage. It has created a patchwork of confusing laws and rights across the country that denies same-sex couples and their families the basic rights and stability that comes with the federal recognition of their marriages. The law’s impact is far-reaching, affecting Social Security survivor benefits after a spouse passes away and the filing of joint federal income taxes, and prohibiting couples from taking unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also impacts immigration issues for same-sex couples, sometimes forcing the deportation of a non-citizen spouse.

It discriminates against same-sex couples by saying that state governments do not need to recognize marriages from other states, and the federal government does not recognize marriages unless they are between one man and one woman.

The 1st Circuit, which only has Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and Puerto Rico in its jurisdiction, said its ruling would not be enforced until the Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by the law until the high court rules.

Since Congress seems unable and unwilling to repeal DOMA and President Obama has no plans to pursue a formal appeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, we will just have to wait for our day in court – the Supreme Court that is.

Until that day I’ll keep singing John Mellencamp’s refrain:

“When the walls come tumblin’ down.

When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’.

When the walls come tumblin’, tumblin’ down.”forcing the deportation of a non-citizen spouse.

It discriminates against same-sex couples by saying that state governments do not need to recognize marriages from other states, and the federal government does not recognize marriages unless they are between one man and one woman.

The 1st Circuit, which only has Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and Puerto Rico in its jurisdiction, said its ruling would not be enforced until the Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by the law until the high court rules.

Since Congress seems unable and unwilling to repeal DOMA and President Obama has no plans to pursue a formal appeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, we will just have to wait for our day in court – the Supreme Court that is.

Until that day I’ll keep singing John Mellencamp’s refrain:

“When the walls come tumblin’ down.

When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’.

When the walls come tumblin’, tumblin’ down.”
Because they are!!

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Evolution: It’s been a long time coming

While on the road in 1963 Sam Cooke penned the original draft of his classic song ” A Change Is Gonna Come” while sitting in the back of his tour bus.
The song became the soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement for the sixties and inspired many since.
It didn’t just come to him, the words came through him. The song captured the pain and hope of the civil rights movement to the African American community.
The words expressed the hopes and dreams of equality carried across time by the cries for freedom of oppressed people universally.
Equality may not have been born by the river in a little tent but just like the river it’s been running every since.
Again and again, during our social evolution, these cries for freedom and equality have found a voice. Much like the little boy who cried “The Emperor has no clothes,” someone states the obvious and, with that single act or deed, the dominos of inequality start to fall.
Such was the case when President Obama completed his evolution on same-sex marriage announcing in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts that he believed “same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Even though many within the LGBT community had grown impatient with the slow pace of Obama’s “evolution”, we knew it was going to happen but what we didn’t know was what would happen in the aftermath.
Obama’s declaration was not a “surprise” but for many still struggling with internalized homophobia, confused by rhetoric blurring the distinction between religious rites and civil rights it was shocking.
For those leaning even further to an extreme right, it was a declaration of war.
Despite wishing gay pride participants a “Great Pride Weekend with the inscription “All Citizens Deserve Equal Rights, Regardless of their Sexuality” while Governor of Massachusetts, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney reaffirmed his position that “that marriage ought to be defined between one man and one woman.”
Ministers decried Obama’s position with calls from African American clergy urging Black voters to turn against President Obama in November
But then the other shoe dropped and it was a good shoe for equality.
African American leaders including Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of NAACP, Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition for Black Civic Engagement, and Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights Icon and President Emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, released an open letter embracing President Obama’s position on equality for the LGBTQ community. Even rap-mogul Jay-Z and actor Will Smith came out in support of gay marriage.
In a scathing open letter (available on youtube.com), Rev. Dr. Otis Moss II of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL called out ministers saying “gay people have never been the enemy and when we use rhetoric to suggest they are the source of all our problems we lie on God.”
With those words, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” President Obama opened the floodgates and the walls began to tumble down.
And then the granddaddy of them all, The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, released a resolution supporting marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law. In a statement Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors, Roslyn M Brock said, “The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people. We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”
Before you get too happy remember this, nothing has changed. Although public opinion shows the tide turning with more people supporting LGBTQ equality and marriage, over 30 states have amendments/legislation banning same-sex marriage. Obama’s “evolution” does not rescind DOMA – The Defense of Marriage Act.
Too little, too late – hardly!! It’s been a long time coming and our change is going to come.
And there will be a price to pay.
In 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House bending the rules of segregation. The repercussions from this dinner were the attack on African American’s in the south.
Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act there were lynchings and bombings across the south.
And on Tuesday May 15th LGBTQ offices in Washington DC including those of the Human Rights Campaign, The Task Force and National Black Justice Coalition were evacuated following a very credible, potential bomb threat reported against a DC LGBT organization.
Some might call it a tipping point, others synchronicity, today it’s evolution, the reality is we have reached a critical point in an evolving situation that leads to a new and irreversible development.
This is a pivotal moment in our struggle for equality, a time to celebrate, to be energized, to push for the finish line, not to bemoan the past.
To borrow again from Sam Cooke, “There have been times that we thought we couldn’t last for long/but now I think we’re able to carry on. It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.”
Michelle E. Brown is a Public Speaker, Activist and Author follow her activities at http://www.facebook.com/mychangeiam http://www.twitter.com/mychangeiam

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Remembering

The other morning I realized that still I sleep with my phone – on and in bed. I have since 2001 when I missed the middle of the night call saying my mother had fallen. She was in the hospital for a week before she died. After that I kept the phone in bed so I could take care of the people she had cared for – my dad and two aunts. This morning the phone woke me up at 8AM I thought I was pissed because someone had woke me up but came to realize it was just a reminder that I miss my mom.  I can’t change the past but I can honor her memory by being present for those I love – and I don’t need to sleep with my phone to do this.

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Marriage – We Fall Down But We Get Up

Are you feeling good about our chances in November? Still sitting on the sidelines because you’re just not that into politics? Are you leaving all the heavy lifting to your local and national organizations? Are you still waiting for equality to come to you, instead of grabbing the bull by the horns?

Well listen up people. Here’s your wake up call.

On Tuesday, May 8, 2012 North Carolina voters passed a sweeping ban on gay marriage with Amendment One enshrining discrimination in their state constitution.

Our movement has seen tremendous progress and growing support in recent years. Since 2008, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Vermont, New York, Washington DC, and most recently Maryland have embraced marriage equality. And after a crushing defeat in California, LGBT families were given new hope when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared Prop 8 unconstitutional.

Support for constitutional amendments banning same-sex couples from marrying has been dropping as support for marriage equality continues to rise. Reportedly 52% of Americans now support marriage equality.

Our unions, our relationships, even without marriage, are real. And at long last are receiving recognition and acknowledgement particularly at the federal level where benefits have been extended to partners of federal employees including hospitals visitation rights and issuing diplomatic passports and benefits. Small steps, yes, but progress nonetheless.

The long arc of the moral universe at last seems to be bending toward justice for LGBT couples and families. We have not made it to the proverbial Promised Land, but we have been to the mountain top and have tasted that better day in LGBT history.

And then North Carolina passed Amendment One, joining 30 other states having some sort of constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

I don’t hate North Carolina. As a matter of fact I have North Carolina roots. Although my mother was born in Michigan, the rest of her/my family came to Detroit as part of the great Northern migration.

I have friends in North Carolina – some transplanted from Michigan some native born. All are out, proud, and – while not ignoring the challenges of being gay in a southern state – were for the most part pretty optimistic about life for the LGBT community in North Carolina.

North Carolina – it’s a part of me. It’s a state I had considered for relocation; and the ancestral home I had planned to visit this summer. But all of that was before North Carolinians voted to deny my community our civil rights.

So what the hell happened in North Carolina?

Polling by the Coalition to Protect All North Carolina Families showed that when voters understood how far-reaching Amendment One was, they turned against it – but only 40 percent even knew the amendment banned civil unions.

Although there was record primary turnout, that turnout represented only 34.37% of eligible voters – sad in comparison to the 70% turnout when President Obama took North Carolina in 2008. Then the turnout in North Carolina was among the states with the highest voter turnout in the country.

With a larger turnout, it’s just possible this thing could have been defeated. But with no contested Democratic race and the GOP nomination all but a “done deal,” we (liberals, progressives, etc.) didn’t take care of job one – getting out the vote.

Just look at the statistics and it becomes clear why Amendment One was put on a primary ballot–when voter turnout is expected to be low. It was no coincidence. The people behind this Amendment and every other assault on our civil rights know exactly what they are doing. It’s called strategy – a strategy to systematically turn back the hands of time and dismantle any progress for full LGBT equality.

Its how they have been able to keep their issues in the forefront for months during the long drawn out GOP primary/caucus cycle gaining free press for divisive issues.

While we’ve been waiting for the big dance in November, they – the bigoted far-right – are using every opportunity to cement their strangle hold on American politics; wrapping fear, bigotry and prejudice in a cloak of religious self righteousness that is contrary to the very beliefs this country was founded on and far from WWJD.

So how do we fight future challenges to our civil rights by these discriminatory amendments? We must be as strategic, as opportunistic, and as vocal as the other side.

We say it again and again. When our communities – and I mean OUR communities where we live, work and raise our families side by side with the same people who would deny us equal rights – when OUR communities know us, know our stories, they are against far-reaching, discriminatory legislation.

Remember “Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell.”  We told our stories again and again. When Congress asked, we told of serving in fear of being discovered, stripped of not only benefits and years of service but our self-respect. They asked and we told. They asked and our comrades, superiors, and allies testified on our behalf joining our voices for the end of this discriminatory policy.

DADT provided a level of discourse, a teachable moment, and ultimately a defining moment where America saw that the LGBT community was not asking for special rights but reclaiming our place as an integral part of the fabric of America.

So maybe the time has come for us to take on a “Do Ask! Do Tell!” campaign. Let’s ramp up our ground game and take it to the streets.

We need to show up at every neighborhood meeting, town hall, and candidate forum, in collaboration/cooperation with our friends, allies and progressive partners, take advantage of every teachable opportunity to dispel the fear and ignorance about our community while reclaiming our place as valued members of every community.

On May 8th in North Carolina we fell down, but we got up. And, with President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality, there will plenty of opportunities to engage in conversations that will not only educate but change hearts and minds in 2012 and beyond.

It’s on and poppin’ folks! So roll up those sleeves and let’s get busy.

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If Only – Collision at the Intersection of Justice and LGBT Equality

Originally published March 27, 2012 · CherryGrrl.com

On February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American youth, went to the store to get a pack of skittles and an Arizona tea. He wasn’t a bad kid. He’d never been in trouble. He was unarmed. He just went out for some snacks and never made it back home.

Trayvon was shot by a member of a neighborhood watch armed with a semiautomatic handgun.  George Zimmerman described Martin as suspicious and “looking like he is up to no good.”

Zimmerman, who is reportedly Hispanic and grew up in a multi-racial family, claimed self-defense, was not charged, and was released by police.

In the aftermath of the shooting, there has been a groundswell of protest across the internet and country demanding an investigation of the shooting, an arrest of Zimmerman and drawing attention to the sad reality that, even now in 2012, there remains a bull’s eye on the backs of young African American and Latino youth.

At the height of the protests, discussions and calls for justice, “Fox & Friends” commentator Geraldo Rivera urged parents of Black and Latino youngsters to “not let their children go out wearing hoodies” implying that the wearing of “hoodies” was somehow a contributing factor to the bounty on African American and Latino youth.

HOLD THE PRESSES!!!!!!!

As an African American I get it. I had had the talk with my son about dressing, walking, driving and living “while Black.” I personally have been followed around stores by suspicious clerks or security for no apparent reason other than my skin color and had to “whiten up” my vocabulary to get or keep jobs.

It’s fear – fear of the unknown, fear of the “other.” It’s stupid, unjustified, but it is real – to some a black person in a hoodie at night is still code for “looking like he is up to no good” and subject to suspicion, surveillance and, in Trayvon’s case, shooting. We may have overcome but we still have one hell of a way yet to go.

But as I listened to Rivera’s remarks saying basically if only Black and Latino youth didn’t wear hoodies they would somehow be safer, I once again found myself at that oft crossed intersection of human rights and LGBT equality.

I cannot tell you how many times while lobbying for anti-bullying legislation not just before federal and state legislators but at school boards, churches and various community groups, the argument against comprehensive, enumerated anti-bullying legislation was wrapped around the “if only” argument. – If onlythey didn’t dress that way; if only they didn’t want to openly express their sexuality or gender expression – If only they weren’t Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual or Transgender.

What exactly is bullying? Miriam-Webster defines bullying as the “use of superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him/her to do what one wants.”

But we don’t need Webster to tell us about bullying. In lay terms, it’s more often “If only you behave, follow our rules, be what we want” – we’ll leave you alone; let you keep your job and dream of equal rights.

Race, class, hate and fear all crashing at the intersection of civil rights, LGBT equality and our humanity.

To borrow from President Obama, if I had a son (a daughter, a child) they’d look like Matthew Shepherd, Sakia Gunn, Tyler Clementi, Robert Champion, and yes, Trayvon Martin.

We must think about our own kids and ask what can we be that our children might see today? What kind of world are we leaving for them tomorrow?

“If Only” – two words at the heart of our fight to protect our families, our communities, and our youth. We don’t need to change. We need to be the change.

If only we stand up against bullying, and stand for justice, we can be the change we want to see.

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