I suppose some of you feel as if I dropped a bomb on you, then began repeatedly whacking you on the head with a 2x4, while simultaneously doing the can-can wearing nothing but a g-string - what with my abrupt and unceremonious coming out and immediate segue into gay rights activism. I apologize – the timing was such that things got a lot bigger than me very quickly.

It’s WAY bigger than me, but I’ve got a year-long backlog of wanting to talk to you all about this. You, the people I’ve grown to know over the past eight years through this modern village that is the blogosphere. People who have become real to me, who have inspired me to continually push harder, dig deeper, expose more - because I have learned that at the heart of it all we are all seeking connection. For more than a year the timing was not right to share, and so there is so much that has been stifled, shut down, turned off as I waited to be ready.

And now here we are, my public coming out coinciding with a national rollercoaster - unprecedented levels of election fever, great triumph with Obama’s election and heartbreaking loss as voters in four states decided that gay rights were not human rights, that MY rights were not human rights.

I believed, long before I even contemplated the fact that I would one day belong to this community, that equality can know no exception. Now I feel this at my very core. To walk down the street and know that more than 50% of the people that surround me every day believe that I am less than, not deserving of, immoral, disgusting, deviant, unworthy…unless you have experienced this, there is no way for me to fully communicate to you the reality.

And so there is no way for me to remain silent. To do so would be to deny myself, my humanity, my inherent value and equality and purpose. To do so would be to stifle myself once more – and there is no way I am going to do that.

I want you all to watch this. Regardless of whatever you agree or disagree, if you voted yes or no or didn’t vote at all. Watch this and feel it, with your mind and heart and soul open to what is being said.

I am writing you now with a plea. I already asked you to get loud, to speak out, to add your voice to the millions across the nation who are demanding equality. I’m going to ask you again. This battle will not be won by the gay community alone; in order to move forward we need allies across all communities, all races, all faiths, all orientations, all age groups. We need people who will stand with us, who will shout with us, who will demand with us. We need people like Keith, like Kate, like Patti, like Stacy, like Denise. We need people like you, and we need you NOW – we need you to attend a rally, to make some signs, to write letters, to volunteer, to blog, to start a dialogue with your friends, your neighbors, your church.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
~Martin Luther King Jr

There is a nationwide protest planned for this Saturday, November 15th at 10:30am PST. Here in Phoenix it will be held at Phoenix City Hall at 11:20am. If you live in the local area, please consider attending. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your dog, but make sure you bring your beliefs in equality and justice and hope.

If you are not local – please visit the website at http://www.jointheimpact.com and find a local event here (events are being held in more than 80 cities in all 50 states, and even in some international locations)

I hope to see you there.