Dear Jesus,

Well...it's happened. I have been an Equal Citizen in the State of California for just about 24 hours. We're 24 hours in and, yes, the sun is still shining. We're 24 hours in and children are still happily running through school yards. 24 hours in and couples who've been together for years both gay and straight are...yes, still together. There has been no undermining of what the right considers "traditional" marriage. Heterosexual couples aren't lined up alongside Gay and Lesbian couples to get divorced in the thousands.

With one full day of Marriage Equality, I'm guessing you have to be as relieved as I am to know all of our fears and anxieties were based on...well, just fears and anxieties. It must be a relief to know California hasn't disappeared into the depths of the Pacific. It must be a relief to know the ground hasn't opened up and snatched us into an underworld of fire and brimstone. Phew.

While I absolutely respect some of your followers right to judge me morally (Mt. 7.1) on their own time and family holidays, I do have to draw a line when my civil liberties are involved. I've been yelling from the rooftops for about ten years wondering why my love and relationships were any less valid than theirs. I'm sure they haven't received their justification from the Bible. I mean with just a little homework you realize there are more references to divorce being an abomination than any references regarding homosexuality. There are even more references to haircuts or diet than there are to references to (for better of worse) MY people.

So as Gays and Lesbians rush to city halls to build a surer footing in our political revolution as equal citizens I guess I want to thank the religious right. I want to thank them for selling crazy for so many years that they've finally pushed the envelope my way. If they haven't utilized me as a tool to implant hate and fear into our political system there may have never been a response from people who, deep down, believe in equality for all.

Sincerely,

Wesley Culwell
Homosexual


**To learn more about what this moment in history means and how you can help me secure this basic human right I ask you to read this short FAQ from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Gay or straight we have to recognize that a legal union under the law is a basic right for all American citizens. Take a read and VOTE NO on the constitutional amendment initiative this November. More to come...


MARRIAGE EQUALITY FAQ CLICK HERE

Today in a NY Times' article Maureen Dowd questioned how Democrats would feel if Hillary bullied her way on to the ticket as VP. Last night Obama supporters (as well as many Hillary supporters) were waiting, were hoping for the first step in the healing process from the one woman who could deliver it. Instead, Hillary Clinton held her quasi-concession speech in a basement, two-stories underground with no monitors, no cell/blackberry reception keeping her attendees in the dark as to who had actually won the democratic nomination. And there she decided not only to NOT concede but decided to ignore the HISTORIC moment of the first African American snagging a major party nomination bid. Her speech that should have been about the need to heal, come together and rally became a self congratulating diatribe on her own accomplishments in this campaign season. Hmmm I dunno, if your looking ahead for the VP spot you might need to (A) STOP RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT and (B) Stop telling the potential employer that you're more qualified to have his position. Can you imagine 8 years of having your Vice President publicly saying, "Well, it's not what I would have done."

Instead of gracefully bowing out and rallying behind the man who WON the Democratic nomination AND the popular vote (argue all you want -- we use real math on this blog) she stood in front of America with a figurative baseball bat and a warning shot to the Obama camp that she would decide later what she was going to do with her over-inflated 18 million votes. Instead of offering a carrot to entice her way to a VP spot she stood with a large stick threatening to ask her supporters to throw the race just so she could say, "I told you so."

For all you amazing feminists out there...do you not care about a woman's right to choose? For all you fabulous homos out there...do you not believe you deserve marriage equality and civil protections like every other American? For all you hard working middle class folk...do you really want to keep tax cuts for the rich?? For all you sacrificing military personnel...do you not want to see a responsible end to the war in Iraq and to keep us out of Iran? Is it really worth being able to say, "I told you so?"

The polls used to say that Obama supporters were open to a Obama/Hillary ticket but just as Hillary has subversively asked her supporters to ignore Obama's policies, experience, vision, accomplishments and now the WINNING of the Democratic nomination long time supporters are now hardening against the Clintons. Maureen Dowd wrote in the NY Times today, "Many of Obama's donors and fans have hardened against the Clintons, saying it would be disillusioning to see them on a ticket that's supposed to be about fresh politics." "It would be," said one influential Democrat, "like finding out there's no tooth fairy."

For centuries children have felt safe, protected and rewarded by the idea that if they did what they were supposed to and put that freshly fallen tooth under their pillow at night in the morning a shiny nickel, quarter (or for the rich kids a $1) would be waiting for them as they woke up puffy eyed--ready to start another day of childhood. As children we put our faith into our parents knowing/hoping/wanting them to protect and provide for us but willing to work hard under their guidance. As we get older we're not disillusioned by the "big picture" but transition from childhood wonder to adult understanding of the empowerment our parents gave us. As we start the long trek to November and the selection of a Democratic Vice President it's that same notion Americans are looking for after eight years of running amuck with no guidance or no real "captain at the helm".

This is making NO comparison to Barack Obama and the tooth fairy or Barack Obama and Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" comment but as children and as adults we need something to believe in. We need to believe we can be better Americans than we have been. We need to believe we can secure a future for our children, not hand them a future of war, death and destruction. We need to believe we can rebuild ourselves in the traditions of what made this country great but leaving the politics and politicians of yester-year behind. We need to believe the political hate and infighting of the last decade are over. And if Hillary Clinton's camp has taught us nothing else...if you just believe in it--it has to be real.

Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless...
... this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal...
... this was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.
This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.

-Barack Obama, the next president of the United States