gaaaaaaaaaaah.

Dammit, Obama… really???

Good connection with this video and this story. Whatta jerk…!

Dear President Elect Obama;

Sorry, though I voted for you in both the presidential primary and election, I’ll have to pass on watching your inauguration. You see my life, the life my partner of 32 years, the life of our twelve-year-old daughter, our lives together – tenuous and fragile in America – are not made more real or less real by opinions or politics – just safer or more dangerous. The only sides to be taken about our lives are: You support our family, or you don’t.

But everyone has a right to her/his opinion? We have to reach across the table. No. I’m sorry. Some things are just wrong, be it bigotry in the street or the pulpit.

Your selecting Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation has robbed LGBT parents and our children of sharing in the historic moment of your inauguration. Rather than it being the joyous day so many of us anticipated, it will now be yet another bitter pill for us to swallow. I hope this and the absence of (as of 12/19/08) an out LGBT person serving on your Cabinet are not harbingers of what LGBT folks can expect during your term of office.

ps
Speaking of Rick Warren:

“He’s devoted his life to performing good works for the poor and leads the evangelical movement in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis.”

Maybe if he and other church leaders would have acted when it was still a “gay” disease, there might not be the current pandemic. I (and many of my LGBT sisters and brothers) buried men and women to a resounding church silence or condemnation. And we changed the diapers of babies with AIDS when they were still treated like modern-time lepers.

Sincerely,
Vince Sgambati
http://www.prideandjoyfamilies.org/
http://www.prideandjoyfamilies.org/view.html

Just did a little homework and turns out HRC is looking ahead, too!
http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/positivechange/873b8334yjnk8e7x?

My response to Cynthia Tucker’s column appeared in The Syracuse Post-Standard, 12/26/08

To the Editor:

Re: Cynthia Tucker’s Sunday column, “Warren’s voice should be heard”:

Dear Ms. Tucker: Like you, I believe that, “among Obama’s several admirable qualities is his ability to sit and converse — debating, but also listening — with those with whom he strongly disagrees.” However, I don’t think I’m using the same “overwrought logic that many conservatives applied to Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright” in being outraged that the Rev. Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration.

You see, for my family, Warren’s views are not merely something to agree or disagree with and then bow our heads in prayer. His views and the way he uses his views to wield power, and conversely uses his power to advance his views, are a threat to my family.

I am a 58-year-old gay man. My partner and I have been together for 32 years. We have a 12-year-old daughter and care for (in our home) my 97-year-old mother. We did not choose to be gay, but we embrace and celebrate who we are. We did choose to commit to a long-term relationship, for better or for worse (you get the idea). We did choose to parent. We did choose to care for my father in our home during his final year of dementia, and continue to care for my mother. I chose to be a teacher for 30 years, and my partner chose to be an urban forester. And when we err in the myriad of ways that humans fail. We’re sorry and try to do better, but we’re never sorry for loving each other.

My family’s life is not unique. It mirrors the lives of thousands of LGBT families across America. Our lives are not made more real or less real by opinions or politics — just safer or more dangerous. It’s simple: You either value our families or you don’t. But doesn’t everyone have a right to her/his opinion? We have to reach across the table, of course, but some things are just wrong, be it bigotry in the street or in the pulpit.

Selecting Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation has robbed many LGBT parents and our children of sharing in this historic inauguration. Rather than it being the joyous day so many of us anticipated, it will now be yet another bitter pill for us to swallow. If this is the price we must pay for some unforeseen progress, so be it. But, Ms. Tucker, do you really expect my family to be lead in prayer by a man who would not allow us to be members of his church unless Jack and I repent our “lifestyle,” or who compares our 32 years together to incest and pedophilia (having a 12-year-old child, I find such a comparison especially abhorrent), or who used his power to strip LGBT couples in California of their rights?

I still look forward to President-elect Obama’s term(s) in office. It’s just that I look forward to the days after his inauguration.

Vince Sgambati
Syracuse