November 2006 Archives

As a result of my jetlag (A'dam-Houston) and being awake at 3 AM, I watched a really good documentary on Free Speech TV, "The Letter." Racisim and hatred show their colors (white) in Lewiston, Maryland, sparked by an open letter the Mayor writes to the citizens who are Somalians.

It is straightforward and uses classic techniques of cuts and close-ups. Wow, to see laid bare the sickness and terror of US whites as they lash out venomously towards blacks, asians, latinos and jews. This is a good synopsis of the film. This justaposed with the majority who make a stand against this cold-blooded hatred. It's worth seeing if you can access it.

Yes, yes, yes.
Although still waiting for Virginia and Montana to be official, winning the House so handily means we'll have some answers and information about this war, our energy policy (It was Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling surely who were the advisors whom Cheney is fighting to hide) and see some debate.

What makes me giddy this morning, though, is our victory here in Montrose where the incumbent rep to our state legislature, Martha Wong, went down in fiery flames. Wong had strongly opposed the gay and lesbian community which is concentrated in her district. She won the seat after the Republicans re-drew the district lines to make sure that the gay and lesbian neighborhoods would be in the minority. The district includes River Oaks, the richest and most Republican neighborhoods in Houston.

When 2 years ago I called Wong's office to urge her not to vote against us, the staff coldly thanked me and sent me away. Wong then voted to put the marriage ban on the Texas Ballot. She also voted to reduce children's health insurance---how does that make sense? I, along with many, was fighting mad. She energized us with the extreme partisan "family values" rhetoric.

Ellen Cohen trounced her!!! The differences during the campaign were stark: Wong's platitudes and Cohen's smart common sense ideas.
For example, Ellen linked gay marriage to end-of-life choices:
"In District 134 we understand that personal life decisions should be made by Texas families, not the Texas Legislature. When Lyon and I had to make end of life decisions it was our decision to make…not the governments. We do not want the government to tell us when life begins or how it should end. We make those decisions with loved ones, physicians, spiritual leaders and from our hearts. We know that every family shares the common value of caring for their loved ones. The recent and courageous vote of District 134 against Proposition 2 shows we do not support hateful measures designed to disenfranchise same-sex partners. And you should not accept a representative unwilling to stand up and be counted on this issue."
Yes, I'm taking the day off to celebrate.

This morning my thoughts are about: A time to support and celebrate Catholic, Protestant and other insitutional churces that show their love for tenn lesbians, gays. They are so desperately needed.
The reason is that during a breakfast meeting I learned that a prominent local gay/lesbian teen counseling and care program is WARY ABOUT WORKING WITH ANY RELIGOUS GROUPS. I learned that during the regular counseling and discussion session with runaway, disavowed and street gay and lesbian teens the teens tell of the violence they suffered from church groups and leaders. Deeply felt rejection, physical abuse...So the result is that these organizations who help teens risk losing the trust of the teens if they in any way work with churches....How sad. Suicide among gay and lesbian teens is 3 times greater than their peer teens.

So my feeling is to think about and support and celebrate those visionary and courageous Catholics, Protestants, Muslim and others who step forward and walk with gay and lesbian teens.

am