H8 is Enough - actually hearing the idea of 2nd-class citizen out of someone else's mouth

I haven't attended any kind of political protest since the 90's. Oh sure, in 2000-2003 (what I thought would be my last years living in the USA) I was involved in my share of politics. Had more than enough of it actually. But today was different, today was raw.

Sure, Obama won. I was in my car when I heard the news and I literally had to pull over into a parking lot because I was so overcome with emotion.

But it was bittersweet. The voters of my current "home" (I say home with a bit of a contemptuous tone) state voted definitively to AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION to define marriage as being one man and one woman. It was a vote that absolutely snuffed out a possible right I might have in this state, because as a Gay man - I would never marry a woman.

The same thing happened in California. I think the GLBT community in California is kidding itself a bit with the lawsuits they have filed holding out hope of overturning pretty much the same thing in their state. I will be very surprised if judges overrule that vote based on a procedural nuance of California law - although it'll cost the Mor(m)on "Church" another $20 million if it happens.

Even as I was watching Obama's victory speech in Grant Park from Chicago I was distracting myself with various thoughts to keep myself on that cloud of victory. I just knew that either CA or AZ was going to have bad news to deal with.

It wound up being both. I told myself - you can't take this so personally. After all, as with most things in life I'd already done the gay marriage thing. And as with most things in life - I did it too fast and too young. But it absolutely seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. I don't regret it one little bit. I told myself - there's already a certificate on file in another state tying you to another person. Thank god we are still extremely close friends. But Vermont does not have a mechanism by which a civil union done by two non-residents can be dissolved.

So the constitutional amendments didn't really affect me - there was a much larger barrier. It's not like I have anyone special in my life. Quite the opposite - I'm very happy to have a dog as a companion.

But a couple of things today struck a chord. Getting up at 8am in the morning and rushing to buy posterboard, locating permanent markers and doing last-minute assembly of some kind of protest sign. The result is part of this post.

It took me right back to the early 90's when I protested with ACT-UP! At the time it was an important issue because it was so obvious to me that the US government was not going to take it seriously. I DEFINITELY had that 2nd-class-citizen feeling going on at that time - and for many good reasons. Hundreds of thousands of men and women died (and continue to die) because money wasn't spent on research or accessibility.

Life came full circle in 2003 when a close friend was diagnosed as HIV+. I really feel like in some very small way I'd made a difference because he was able to get access to medication - by that time advances in research had turned HIV from a death sentence into a living hell of pills with side effects but the promise of life. (I call it like I saw - and continue to see - it.)

So this morning as I was driving downtown Phoenix all of this was knocking around in my head. The current movement is not just about marriage - it's equal to the civil rights movement in the 1960's. That's how it seems to be evolving. I hope the momentum keeps up. But it was just something to do today until I heard the phrase "2nd class citizen" over the P.A. system. It re-awakened something.

I thought I left all that 2nd class citizen crap behind in December 2003 when I boarded a plane to emigrate from the USA to Uruguay. I thought it would become a new home. I wasn't so much running FROM anything - but definitely running TO the possibility of a new life. It has evolved into a new life - strangely, back in the USA - but not quite in the way I expected.

I have a lot on my plate right now and am hesitant to add more - but Monday night I will be at the organizing meeting for further protests and activism in Arizona.

I AM mad as hell. Now that Pandora's box has been opened with the magic words "2nd class citizen," the fight is ON. Goals:

Make the state and the people of Utah feel the financial squeeze above and beyond the current recession. To squeeze Utah to to squeeze the LDS cult.

Get the LDS cult's 501(c)3 tax exempt status revoked.

Work like hell to regain and demand equal rights. It may not happen in my lifetime but I think it will.

I've taken some initial steps. Most of my extended family in Southern California voted YES on this abomination. The idea of having Thanksgiving dinner with them is absolute anathema. This evening I called and said that odds were 90% against my making any appearance as well as explained why.

I don't know what future relationship, if any, I will have with many of them. The only words I would say to any of them directly are: "SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!"

I have several much-higher-priority issues in life. (To my last ex: if you think you're a priority, you're simply a matter that's been outsourced to my attorney.) But this issue of 2nd-class-citizenship in my own country will now be a priority.