I am sitting here at work watching the telecast of the inauguration of President Obama and just tearing up. I am a Singaporean living in the United States for the past 9 years now and I really do not remember watching the auguration(s) of bush. I think I was at Civic Center with throngs of people protesting the inauguration.
Mickey still always reminded me that even though he felt sick to his stomach after election nights 8 years ago (and was even more sick 4 years later), I kept asking… well… okay… maybe Bush won… but how bad can he be? He said I was naïve…. But as a new transplant, who just moved his entire life to come to the United States in order to be with the person that he fell in love with and still trying to understand politics here…. Really, how bad can it be?
Well… eight years have taught me a lot and the truth is that we have been through a lot. We are now at war with 2 countries, we have killed thousands of innocent people in Iraq, we have ignored the rule of law, we have ignored Geneva conventions and start torturing people, we have split the country rather than unite the country, we encouraged people to go shopping rather than sacrifice or take care of one another after 9/11, we have used LGBT people disparagingly as a wedge issue to win elections…. The list goes on.
Look, I am not totally all crazy over Barack Obama, however, over the past months, over the past few days, I have been overwhelmed by the change in attitude…. I feel that people are chirpier, more optimistic about the future…. I feel that people are aware of the difficulties that we are going to be facing… but at the same time, I feel people feeling resolved that they are ready to roll up their sleeves and work and sacrifice and take care of each other.
I am still disappointed that our president who comes from an inter-racial marriage and whose family is a rainbow portrait of multi-ethnicity would say that he does not support gay marriage but supports civil unions. It is a wonder for me that while he is a product of “separate but equal is not equal”, he would not support gay marriage but thinks civil unions is sufficient. That said, this is the first time, in my memory at least, that our President’s agenda as printed on whitehouse.gov includes LGBT issues as a civil rights issues.
To me – that is a start. To quote Bruce Vilanch “Kids, the only solution for us is to reluctantly, but firmly, vow to be the unpopular people who force our new leader's feet to the fire on a regular basis” http://wockner.blogspot.com/2009/01/gay-vips-on-obama-25.html
I hope and wish that this president fulfills his promise to all of us. The United States of America right now is in a BIG mess… the financial world is collapsing, people are losing their house to foreclosures, unemployment is very high, we are in a HUGE deficit and would be for a long time, people are losing health insurance …. Tough times…. But no matter what, as President Obama calls us to work together and to sacrifice, we also need to continue a watchful eye to ensure that he guarantees basic civil rights for all of us, for all LGBT people.
At the end of the day though, I think Scott Long, Director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Division says it best…. “Before we're LGBT people, or Americans, we're human beings. We deserve a government that respects human rights, and whether it tramples on them in Fallujah or New Orleans, we all suffer. Of course, there's more on the agenda. I'm all for the big tent (or is it wide stance?) that Obama seems to be attempting. The quarter of Americans who believe that homosexuals are bound straight for hell are not going away; the sensible thing is to look for some minimal measure of common ground, so that the diatribes can give way to dialogue at least around the edges. But he still needs to stand up for basic civil rights: pass ENDA (trans-inclusive), endorse the Uniting American Families Act, disavow DOMA, let soldiers ask and tell. He needs to be reminded every day that human rights are indivisible. After eight years of duplicity and division, even the most idealistic leaders may succumb to the habitual lapses of a corrupted government, and forget their way." http://wockner.blogspot.com/2009/01/gay-vips-on-obama-13.html
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A New Era
I saw the opening ceremony on HBO - but they cut out Rev Gene Robinson's prayer. Here it is in its entirety. WoW!
I am hopeful that a new era is happening. However, I am still going to be watchful to make sure that President Obama will stick to his promise and his agenda as updated on the new Whitehouse.gov website. Full Equality & Federal Benefits for all LGBT couples!
Lincoln Memorial, Washington , DC
January 18, 2009
Delivered by the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson:
"Welcome to Washington ! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God's blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic "answers" we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be "fixed" anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States .
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln 's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States .
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN."
I am hopeful that a new era is happening. However, I am still going to be watchful to make sure that President Obama will stick to his promise and his agenda as updated on the new Whitehouse.gov website. Full Equality & Federal Benefits for all LGBT couples!
Lincoln Memorial, Washington , DC
January 18, 2009
Delivered by the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson:
"Welcome to Washington ! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God's blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic "answers" we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be "fixed" anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States .
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln 's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States .
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN."
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