Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Queervolution has begun

November, 2008 -- People took to the streets. Prop 8 had passed in California and people were pissed. There were marches, rally's, protests & candle light vigils.

May, 2009 -- Thousands converged in the Central California for Meet in the Middle 4 Equality after the Supreme Court upheld Prop 8. Some marched 14 miles, some just came for the rally in downtown Fresno. Either way, they were there to let their voices be heard. WE ARE EQUAL!

October, 2009 -- 250,000 people traveled across this country to Washington, DC for the National Equality March.

April 18, 2010 -- The Queervolution began.

This time it feels different. GetEQUAL did something. Something unexpected. Something radical.

I knew something was going to be happening on Tuesday, but I had no idea what. I woke up and started getting ready for work. I was reading through Tweets from the night before and I came across a Tweet my friend Sam in DC sent. She said "Queermageddon Approaches".

If you know anything about me, you know that I'm a worrier. More so about the people I care about than myself. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I Sam's words left me with a knot in my stomach. I hadn't been following Twitter for the past 4 months, since I'd moved to Long Beach. Let me tell you, I was glued to it on Thursday & haven't kept my eye off it since.

The day in DC started with the rally that Kathy Griffin was having about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I have my own feelings about this "rally" but I'll leave them to myself (for the time being). Dan Choi, who for months has bee the "face" of DADT, was not going to be allowed to speak. Robin, being Robin, was able to get him on stage. After he spoke, he lead 150 people to the White House. That's when things started getting interesting.

First, Robin was arrested for helping chain Lt. Dan Choi to the fence of the White House as they protested "Don't ask, Don't Tell". Then Dan &
Capt. Jim Pietrangelo were cut down and arrested. Following all of this, 5 people went to Nancy Pelosi's office in DC for a sit in. At the same time, there was a group from GetEQUAL that also occupied Pelosi's office in San Francisco. My "adopted brother", Kip, was in SF.

I sat back watching all of this unfold. I was commenting as I could (which was a lot that day). People were sending me condolence messages for my friends being arrested. I told them not to be sorry, I wasn't sorry in the least bit. It felt almost like I was a proud father. My heart was so full, and still is. There around words to describe how lucky I feel to know this RAD people.

That night in LA I had a meet-up with a couple of friends so we could catch up and get all of the details of the day. For some reason I felt the need to make tee-shirts for the night. The 3 of us sat there, wearing our "Free McGehee" tee-shirts waiting for the calls to come in. (One of us may have been wearing "Free McGehee" underwear). Everyone, but Dan & Jim were released that day. Robin, the first one arrested, was released on a $35 bail.

The next day Dan & Jim had their trial. Once again I was on cloud 9 when they both plead "not guilty". They go back to court next month.
"WE WILL NOT ADMIT GUILT in our fight for equality"
Once again I sat there in amazement. The only thing that I will agree with Kathy Griffin on this week is "these guys have balls".

I've said all of that to say this: Things are changing. People are fed up and ready to GetEQUAL. It's time to create a ruckus. Some people may not agree. I have always found that the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease. It's about fucking time that people start making some noise & the folks at GetEQUAL are just the people to do it. I have seen these people so some amazing things over the past year. But, guess what, they're just getting started! [evil laugh]

They have my full support, do they have yours? Head over to http://www.getequal.org to find out more information and get on their mailing list.

Me with the two most RAD people I know, Kip Williams & Robin McGehee