"The Violets in the Mountains Have Broken the Rocks."

The other night a good friend and I were talking about slogans we could use to describe our battle for equal rights. And we came up with a wonderful quote from Tennessee Williams. We decided that this quote is appropriate to this time in our history, and to the rights that LGBT people and our straight allies are fighting for.

"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks."

Okay, I know what you are thinking. What does this quote have to do with our battle for equal rights? That’s simple, to me this quote is saying that the hard, cold and oppressive will--at long last is being broken apart by a force that is beautiful, natural, colorful and alive. Everyone who is active in the battle for equal rights are violets which are breaking through the rocks of bigotry and hate.

And look at the momentum we’ve built around our movement. No one can deny that we are cracking away at the rock of hate and falsehood. Just the other day a bill called the Respect for Marriage Act which was introduced to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. This is a great step forward for our movement, but it is just that a step forward.

All we have to do is look across this great country of ours and you will see people who were born and raised in towns where a gay couple wouldn't dare walk down a street are now coming out and showing their support for their fellow man regardless of their sexual orientation. You will see blue-collar workers looking up from their work, grandmothers speaking up at the dinner table, even political leaders standing at press conferences; and they are saying something to members of their family, co-workers, and even strangers who are against gay marriage. They are saying in one, increasingly-loud voice, "Rather than worry about who someone else loves--and why, think about who you hate--and why!"

Even if it doesn’t seem like it at times, America really is a country with common sense. We are a country of innate goodness--although a goodness that is sometimes slow to action. As Winston Churchill said, "Americans are always ready to do the right thing. After they have exhausted all the other possibilities." Well we have exhausted all the other possibilities, and it is time to call an injustice an injustice.

It is an injustice that we send a gay or lesbian soldier to die in a war--to give their life for a country that won't let them be legally bound to the person they love.

It is an injustice that a soldier gives their life for a Military--an exemplary Military in every way--except one in which they cannot have the picture of their lover cut-out in the shape of a heart and taped to their locker because that would be "telling." Such a ugly word.

It is an injustice that many of us pay our taxes to the very public institutions that deny us the same rights as other Americans enjoy. Our tax money goes to public schools that will not accept us as legal parents. Our tax money goes for the paper on which they print the goddamn marriage licenses on that we cannot get.

And while we are paying our tax money for all of the above, a preacher stands at the pulpit of a multi-million-dollar mega-church advocating the damnation of gay Americans and does not pay one thin dime in taxes.

The LGBT community and our straight allies are violets and we are starting to break through the mountain of straight, white, male lawmakers in Washington. Their time is over and they know it. Which is why they are looking increasingly ridiculous and stressed.

I believe it is time Obama starts to stand up for those issues he promised to fight for along the campaign trail. My God, Dick Cheney announced that he is in favor of gay marriage. And on that very day, the National Weather Service reported hell froze over.

So Mr. President, please catch up. Newsweek magazine just said about gay marriage--and I quote: "This train's left the station. Time to get on board." Oh--there is still a lot of work to be done. But it will happen.

And when it does--when "Don't ask don't tell" is scrapped, when gay men and women can marry the people they love--when that day comes, people across this great land will be looking for a place to party.

Yes, across America we will celebrate because, at long last, that day will have arrived. But to the people reading my blog--that day will not only have arrived for us, it will have arrived because of you.

"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks."

MJ