Ricky Hendon, Illinois State Senator, speaking out on behalf of civil unions for his state.
Beautifully said.
Also, a point I want to make once again. A poster today wrote that I must be gay, because I devote so much time to gay marriage and civil unions and gay rights. I suppose the natural response would be, “No, I’m not gay!” But I’m not going to say that, because it’s a garbage reply.
Whether I’m gay or straight has nothing to do with standing up for fundamental civil rights. There were hundreds of thousands of white Americans who opposed segregation and spoke out on their beliefs. There were hundreds of thousands of men who joined Susan B. Anthony. There are Christians backing Jews in Israel; Jews (maybe a handful?) backing Palestinians, on and on and on.
Gay rights are our generation’s civil rights. I’ve often thought about my parents, and how—while they certainly supported Martin Luther King and the like—they sort of went about their own lives in New York while the struggle continued. I don’t want to look back and have my children say the same thing about me. There is a battle for equality going on, and we all should have voices.
