I feel like I am in the big girl lesbian blogger leagues after receiving my first national anti-gay email commentary in response to being quoted in a Politico.com article on marriage equality. <sniff>
As you may know, the President does not believe in marriage equality. He used to when he was a State Senator, but now that appears to be a paperwork error. He is "evolving," but in spite of collecting a lot of big fat gay money last night at an LGBT fundraiser in NYC, he didn't evolve fast enough to weigh in on the NY marriage equality vote that could come as early as today.
I'm kicking myself because we missed an opportunity to remind him that we paid attention by showing up with some signs and annoyed gay would-be-donors at his Pittsburgh appearance today. Missed opportunity.
Here's a portion of what I shared with Politico.com when the contacted me.
?I recognize that he has made changes that improve our quality of life, but until he embraces the notion that we deserve true equality, he hasn?t delivered,? said Sue Kerr, a gay rights activist in Pittsburgh.
But ?a ?fierce advocate? would counter the rhetoric from the far right that demonizes and dehumanizes our community,? Kerr said. ?A ?fierce advocate? would recognize that my partner and I should not pray we aren?t transported to a faith-based hospital in case of an emergency and potentially denied access to one another because we aren?t married. He?s taken steps to right these injustices, but I grow impatient with delayed equality.?
The reported loved the part where I tied Obama's lack of leadership and failure to deliver to the social conservative Democrats denying domestic partner benefitst to their employees because they quiver at the political fallout. (Again, yes, I am still talking about "that" Democrat.) Sort of trickle down lack of leadership. I wonder if the fat cat Democrats on the national level give a damn about lesbian partners being unable to access preventative healthcare because of their actions? But it didn't make it into the piece.
So actually, I thought the email message was spam because it seems to be a fake address so I almost deleted it. Thank goodness curiosity got the better of me. And it is pretty tame compared to when the local lesbian told me she hoped I choked and died on my own bile. Now that's an insult. And sort of a death wish which was kind of creepy. Then there was the gay man who told me all the lesbians in Pittsburgh hate me. I didn't realize anyone was conducting a poll and if there was, sweeping it is a pretty significant accomplishment. I was accused of bullying a gay man of affluence and access which was in poor taste given the recent rash of youth committing suicide over LGBTQ bullying. That one I almost published because it was pretty disgusting to compare yourself to those kids because you think I'm mean to you.
There's more. I'm anti-ally, anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ family, don't do enough in the community, bitch and moan too much, don't appreciate behind the scenes work, don't trust the white men to "have it under control," and focus too much on dykes and the leather community.
Then there was the time "he who won't be named" lost his cool at a public event because I published his voting record. That was sort of the pinnacle of "arriving" as a blogger.
But this is a whole new level because it is polite and apparently well-intentioned. Plus, it took a bit of time to track me down as my blog was not mentioned in the Politico piece. Here's a snip.
Dear Ms. Kerr:
You were mentioned in POLITICO.It doesn't matter what Obama does. The ex-gay truth will out. Really.
Decades of betrayal of the public by the press and others have allowed the myth of the Normal Gay to grow.
The real information is at: <I'm not linking to ex-gay sites - Sue>
Early-life faulty bonding and identification with the same-sex parent is key.Let go of your illusions and go for true self-acceptance
She's so polite, if grammatically challenged. So, Sharon Kass of Washington, D.C., here's to you for validating the time I took to talk with the Politico writer. Here's to you for validating the time I spend blogging, regardless of the fallout. Here's to you for reminding me why the lives and experiences of death-wish issuing lesbians and suicide contemplating LGBTQ youth are worth the effort I invest both here on the blog and in the other work I do.
And here's to you for keeping my interest and desire to expose the ex-gay ministries alleged to be deeply embedded in the "ministries" of two local mega-churches.
You join a long line of folks who don't want to hear it. And that's okay with me. Because I don't represent anyone but myself. And no one is forced to read my blog.
But they do.