The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Ok.. I just woke up from a dream.. ...

and I saw that the Indiana General Assembly was controlled by a party of men who decided who was a true American... who deserved rights and who didn't. They saw it as their place to decide who should be encouraged to have more children and who shouldn't. And the money from outside groups kept those bigots in place.. and actually called the tune as to language and laws.

Wait, I saw this one before. Yeah.. it was the 1920s and the Ku Klux Klan controlled the governor's office on down to the local county commissioners. Was Indiana full of stupid hicks then? Well, ok, they were here.. but the majority of the party then was made up of middle class white small town Protestants. The same people who in their God-fearing ways feared change and furriners.

But wait.. when I examine this dream again, I see it more clearly. It's a Senator proposing to regulate artificial insemination to ONLY MARRIED COUPLES. (No queers need apply for that license, since the senator who shall remain nameless' SJR7 passed both houses once.)

It's another representative-- backed by the 2006 version of the Klan -- Eric Miller's Advance America -- ok, no hoods just nice business suits, slick smiles and plenty o' cash-- trying to strip local commissions from their duty to protect all citizens. Nevermind that silly talk about local control.

You know.. there were bright spots.. for instance, a Governor who actually seems to support GLBT people-- in his state hiring policies. Too bad he can't spare a dime of his sparce political capital to slow some of these egregious wrongs from his party's faithful.

OK.. my point is.. to some people it does not seem urgent to be at the Indiana Equality rally on Thursday. The marriage DISCRIMINATION amendment is not being debated... and IE and others have seemingly defeated the bigots in most issues. But you know what? The power perceived at the statehouse derives from bodies.. it derives from seeing people come from all over the state-- and disrupting the normal day of the Senate/ House, by calling out legislators.

Don't underestimate that. Last week the unions showed up in force.. and pushed the governor's toll road bill through over their natural allies the Dems. Would that the GLBT and Allied community could realize it's power like that.

Oh, yeah.. and coming would hook you up on this historic day with your family from across the state. Isn't YOUR family worth that much?

Let's stop the bickering.. and get together. We can only win that progress we need by moving forward together.

See you Thursday-- I think I am on to speak at 1:00 PM...