Asterisk

What an amazing few days at the National Equality March. At the March proper I met up with some Soulforce friends and unfortunately missed meeting up with several others.

My time before the March seemed to split between Christianity and DADT. Here is some of what I did last weekend. (I know some of these events were filmed; I’ll be linking later if I find the video online.)

First, regarding religion:

• Talked Methodism with Joey Heath, who challenged his minister’s right to deny membership in the United Methodist Church (UMC) because of homosexuality. He’s much more optimistic than I am on the future of the UMC. He’s also much more adorable.
• Received communion from Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, co-pastor at Glide Memorial UMC in San Fransisco, at a UMC worship service held at Capitol Hill UMC on Saturday night.
• Got to ask a question of Rev. Irene Monroe, one of the most important theologians of our time, at a panel about Faith and the LGBT Community at MCC DC on Friday night.
• Shook the hand of Rev. Troy Perry after he gave the invocation Sunday afternoon (video below). Rev. Perry helped found the Metropolitan Community Churches 41 years ago this month.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWyUTranbD0[/youtube]

And concerning DADT:

• Shook the hand of Cpt. Alex Nicholson, who was fired from the US Army six months after 9/11 and later founded Servicemembers United.
• Stood a few feet from Frank Kameny (fought to overturn the gay hiring ban after being fired from the Civil Service Commission in 1957), David Mixner (the man behind the March), Lt. Tracy Thorne-Begland (came out on Nightline in 1992 and was subsequently fired from the Navy under both the original ban and under DADT), and many other LGBT heroes at a memorial service for Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich.
• Met Lt. Dan Choi, who recognized me from the facebook when I shook his hand, which is simultaneously insane and intoxicating. Oh, it made me all gooey inside. (His better half is fantastic, too.)

Whew. What a weekend. I’m a little overwhelmed.

…because I’m heading to Washington, D.C. and plan on posting the heck out of the National Equality March. Tomorrow is travel with mostly sight-seeing (read:probably sleeping in and watching TV) on Friday. (I haven’t had a vacation in five years, so I’m hoping I remember how to do this.) Saturday is busy with official events, though I’m trying to space it out to give myself breathing room.

Here’s what I’m planning so far:

1. Faith and the LGBT Community
   Can You Be a Person of Faith and Still Be Who You Are?
   Friday: 7:00pm-8:30pm
2. DADT Protest & Memorial Service Honoring Leonard Matlovich
   Speakers Span Four Decades of Fighting the Ban on Gays in the Military
   Saturday: 2:00pm
3. Old Divisions, New Coalitions: Race and the LGBT Movement
   With Irene Munroe and Derek Washington
   Saturday: 3:00pm-4:30pm
4. United Methodists Welcome National Equality Marchers
   Prayer and Thanksgiving!
   Saturday: 7:00pm-9:00pm
5. National Equality March
   March for Equality!
   Sunday: 12:00pm
6. National Equality March Rally
   The March culminates in a rally at the Capitol Building
   Sunday: 2:00pm-5:00pm

I may have to cut number three for time. Hope not, but unless the two events are really close to each other, I don’t know how I’ll make both.

What you’ll see here during the weekend will be shorter posts with pictures and video through flickr and possibly audio through trottr. I’ve never used the latter, and I’m not sure I can get it to auto-post. I’m going to be traveling with no computer but my mobile, so I’ll be limited to what I can transmit through MMS. In addition, I might decide to write a longer post when I get back to the hotel, depending on whether they have a communal computer I can use.

All of this will be seen here on Asterisk, and on iQreport, a new aggregation site. As always, you can follow me on Twitter to catch a few non-post-worthy observations.

I hope to see you there! I’ll be the fat guy breathing heavy from all the walking.

An encouraging report from the Immigration Equality Blog this morning:

[U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)] has just issued a memo directing its officers who decide “green card” applications to hold applications in abeyance pending the final HHS rule. In other words, if someone has submitted a green card application and USCIS would deny it based solely on the fact that the applicant is HIV-positive, it will hold off on a decision.

For individuals who are eligible for waivers, USCIS will continue to adjudicate waivers and approve them where the standard is met. If USCIS finds that the applicant does not qualify for the waiver, it will hold the denial in abeyance — that is neither grant nor deny the application, pending the publication of the regulations.

Immigration Equality worked with the American Immigration Lawyers Association to press USCIS to release a memo on this issue and we’re very happy to see another step forward towards fairness under the immigration law for people with HIV.

This is great news for anyone who has filed for a green card hoping that the ban will be fully lifted before USCIS makes a decision on his or her application.

Here’s a pdf of the three page USCIS memo.

In 1987, a law was passed requiring the denial of immigration and even travel visas based on an applicant’s positive HIV status. President Bush signed a bill in 2008 reversing that law, but the Department of Health and Human Services has not yet removed HIV from its list of banned communicable diseases. HHS officials have indicated that removal may happen in the very near future.

Very nice words from President Obama this afternoon at the White House reception. Very nice words. There’s just one problem: Words alone don’t get the job done.

And so on.

I could go on about the president’s speech, but instead I’d like to talk for a little bit about the crowd in the White House today. They were mind-blowingly non-critical. I think the technical term is “star-fucker”. Over and over they literally whooped and hollered like they were at a basketball game.

The president gave a light applause speech at best. But because they got invited to the Big House, these supposed LGBT activists were more than supportive, they were in President Obama’s hip pocket before he even got started, and no matter what he said. He could have introduced new pink triangles and they would have thanked him for the breathable cotton.

I was embarrassed by the display. Embarrassed. After five minutes or so I crossed over into being flat out ashamed of them. This is not what the LGBT community counts on these people for. Real people’s lives are affected by President Obama’s empty rhetoric and non-timeline for change. To judge by the audience’s reaction, you’d think everything was sunshine and roses for the community. You’d never guess that people are getting deported, fired, abused by police, and having their rights stripped away.

My only hope, our only hope is that President Obama and his administration look past today’s crowd in the White House and see the discontent in the community at large. Otherwise, next time he hears we’re upset about something he’ll just roll his eyes, tell the chef to order some lamb chops, and go back to ignoring us.

(One other thing: That audience was painfully white and male. Come on, The Gays. We’re more diverse than that.)

After several weeks of calls for boycott following the Obama administration’s failure to attend to any of his campaign promises, the 10th annual LGBT Leadership Council fundraiser for the DNC went on as planned last night. The event, with Vice President Joe Biden as the main attraction, was boycotted by at least 13 prominent members of the community, as well as the Stonewall Democrats and former DNC chair Howard Dean.

And yet, the DNC reportedly raised nearly a million dollars, at least 30% more than last year’s pre-election event. From Advocate.com:

Despite the controversy, about 180 people showed up to hear Vice President Joe Biden speak for a price tag of $1,000 to $30,400 per plate. The event brought in nearly $1 million, up from about $750,000 last year, according to a Democratic Party source.

When Vice President Joe Biden took the stage, he told the crowd that he had specifically asked to speak at the event and that his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, had also requested to address a Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network event earlier this month.

“I am not unaware of the controversies swirling around this dinner,” Biden said, “swirling around the speed — or lack thereof — that we’re moving on issues that are of great importance to you and, quite frankly, to me and to the President and to millions of Americans.”

The Vice President’s words are nice, but as we’ve learned over the last six months, they signify no real change in policy.

By donating a record amount, even amidst the outcry from the LGBT community, even while protesters from SLDN drew attention to President Obama’s refusal to halt the firing of servicemembers such as Maj. Margaret Witt, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, and 1Lt. Dan Choi, even after White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday morning that President Obama would continue to ruin the lives, careers, and futures of these honorable, dedicated servicemembers, even as it becomes clear that the Matthew Shepard Act will be DOA if it even makes it to the president’s desk, these donors have made a statement.

Their statement is this: They don’t care. Their access to and hobnobbing with well-heeled Washington insiders is more important to them than pesky rank-and-file members of the community who just want to stop being abused.

Understand the damage done last night. Every advance we’ve made over the last few weeks since the Obama Justice Department released its shameful DOMA brief, is now gone. The Democratic party knows, and President Obama knows, that we don’t control the community’s purse strings. Our supposed social betters do that for us, and they’ll keep the money flowing no matter what President Obama and Congress do.

So. Where do we go from here?

It’s been a month since David Mixner proposed a March on Washington for October 10-11, 2009 and this does nothing but solidify my support of the idea. Our job now is to show both our national leaders and the A-list LGBTs that our voices are louder than their money. Our goal is nothing short of full and total equality. Our duty is to secure a better future for our children.

Our time is now.