..::Nebraska Democratic GLBT Caucus - News and Announcements::..

June is traditionally a time for weddings. It is also Gay Pride Month. Here in Nebraska as elsewhere there is a series of Pride events. Lincoln had its best ever Pride street festival on June 3rd. The Nebraska Democratic Party's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) Caucus and the ever faithful and supportive Lancaster County Democrats had a booth there. On June 10th, Nebraska Pride will have its parade and huge street festival in Omaha. Thousands of LGBT citizens and their allies will attend both events. It feels good to get together, be ourselves and let the larger world know we live and breathe even here in Nebraska, the reddest state in the Union.

This year's Gay Pride Month is especially poignant for my partner (Lin Quenzer), our son and me because we have been a part of the Lincoln Arts Council's Stories of Home public art project. The sculpture made by artist Kristen Martincic was unveiled in a private showing at our home this past weekend with friends and allies in attendance. Martincic's artwork seeks to encourage a dialogue between the majority heterosexual community and the minority LGBT community by casting our family's feet. She told our guests that people need to walk in our footsteps to understand the joys and burdens of being a lesbian-headed family. The piece is framed by copper tubing shaped as a simple house. A void is created by the tubing and our clay feet, which rest upon an intricately decorated box give one a feeling of home. The void, Martincic says, is the invisibility of lesbian and gay issues.

The piece struck a chord of recognition among our lesbian and gay friends, but perhaps more striking were the tears and stories it prompted from our majority community guests. Some said they could really feel the void, the invisibility, and it made them sad. Others said the feet seemed to ground the piece and depicted a family with a firm foundation. In any case, no one seemed to be untouched by the piece.

It is with some irony that the next day another Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) to ban marriage between same sex couples was introduced in Congress. Now is the time to talk about that void - the invisibility of the gay community's issues in everyday life.

Our country's success as a democracy has been due in part to the Bill of Rights, a document that essentially protects minorities of all kinds from the tyranny of the majority. All of us can and probably will, at one time or another, find ourselves in a minority position, either politically, racially, through religious belief, ethnicity, gender, or ability. Without the protections of the Bill of Rights, our lives as minorities could be made very difficult because laws could be passed targeting us, our freedoms could be stripped from us, and all sorts of havoc could be wrought upon we average individual citizens. As minorities, we would be the victims of the majority's fickle nature.

Lesbian and gay folk such as myself have not enjoyed much popularity for several millennia now. We're a small group of citizens, about 10% or so of the population. Among minorities, we have the unenviable position of being the most despised and the butt of just about everyone's jokes in just about any social situation you can possibly imagine yourself in. It's a safe bet that if you take a political stand opposing our rights, even the most mundane, like access to one's partner's group health insurance or social security benefits for our children, that you will be signaling your support for the adulteration of our Constitution. There's a reason why that famous quote of Martin Niemoller from the Nazi era says, "Then they came for the homosexuals, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a homosexual." The quote also talks, of course, about the arresting of Jews, Communists, trade unionists, and Catholics, and ends, "Then they came for me, but by that time there was no one was left to speak up." Simply stated, the gay community is a certifiable minority community. As such without access to the Bill of Rights and other Constitutional protections, our destiny is at the majority heterosexual community's whim. Whatever you want to do to us, whether you want to keep us from our families, stop us from providing for our children, disrespect our relationships, whatever, you get to do it. That's because you are the majority, and we are the minority.

Introducing a FMA to our nation's constitution is not our idea. It's the President's. Supporting this amendment is not our idea. It's the Republican Party's.

Conventional wisdom says that politicians must support a FMA or else risk losing an election. There are alternatives such as not saying anything at all or better yet, actually sitting down and speaking with the gay community. Invariably when candidates come to our events, they are surprised to find out that gay people want to talk about issues like funding for education because they're schoolteachers, or drought relief aid because they're farmers, or property taxes and Medicare because they're retirees. Usually it takes a long conversation to get to the issue of legally recognizing our relationships. Most gay people would be tickled if a compromise like clearly secular civil unions could be promoted. But unfortunately the void that artist Kristen Martincic so accurately depicted is our reality. It's like the gay community just doesn't exist. Our lives, the lives of our beloved life partners and our cherished children don't exist. We're just another way to politically divide this country. Obviously using a vulnerable community as a political litmus test is not fair. Worse yet, falling for this self-serving electoral trick is not Democratic. To write the gay/lesbian minority out of the Constitution certainly places our destiny at risk, and just as importantly, it does not set a good precedent for any of the nation's minorities. It is critically important to recall that during politically unstable times, it is common for politicians to start attacking unpopular minorities as a diversionary tactic from serious issues. In this case, the issues are increasing energy costs, global warming, inequitable taxation, abuse of power, and more.

In closing, Lin and I want to thank the Lincoln Arts Council, Pepon Osario (Lead Artist) and Kristen Martincic for their courage to take on our Story of Home. You will be able to view the sculpture at a variety of public locations over the next four months. Go to: www.artscene.org for more information.