green party political rant
november 16th, 2000

Alrighty. I don't usually preach, but I'm going to preach now.

I was all prepared to vote for Gore. Even though the platform of the Green 
Party was much closer to my own political viewpoints, I was completely 
prepared to flush my idealism down the toliet and throw my lot in with the 
next best thing. It was the realistic thing to do. It was the sensible 
thing to do. And besides, Gore wrote me a happy little letter when I was 
in the sixth grade telling me all the things he was going to do to protect 
the environment. So, why not?

I'll tell you why. Because during the second political debate, not only 
did Gore completely lose all of the venom and backbone he had during the 
first debate (you know, since the press gave him such a hard time about 
it) he said, right there on national television, in front of the entire 
population of America, that he *agreed* with Governor Bush, that 
homosexuals did not have a right to be married. That marriage is a sacred 
institution for a man and a woman.

Excuse me?

Many of my friends are gay, bisexual, or transgendered. They've been there 
for me through all of my tragedies and triumphs. They are an intricate 
part of my extended family. I love them incredibly. And I want to be there 
when they get married. And I want their marriages to actually count for 
something.

Yes, the Gore administration is more supportive of Gay Rights than the 
Bush. Yes, they'd try to compromise and work out some sort of civil union 
law. But it isn't enough. I could not, by my own moral standards, cast in 
my vote for someone who does not view homosexuals as human beings who 
deserve the exact same rights as everyone else. Not partially. Not 
almost-but-not-quite. This is something I believe too strongly in to 
compromise, even just a little.

I'm sorry that there's a big mess in Florida. I'm sorry that no one knows 
who the next President is going to be, and that Gore lost his home state. 
But it isn't fair to point fingers and blame it all on those of us who 
have ideals that we want to stick by. Blame it on an electoral college, on 
a system that fails to work, on the innate disfunction of mechanical 
objects and the nature of random error.

Am I an idealist? I suppose it depends on your point of view. If being an 
idealist means putting your ideals about the way the world *should* work 
first, well then, that's me. I didn't try to force it down anybody's 
throat, I didn't make any billboards or sport any bumper stickers, I 
didn't pretend that I was right and everybody else was wrong - I haven't 
even discussed this in anything other than small, private circles, until 
now. It was a long, hard, deliberate decision, and it was the decision 
that was best for me.

And I don't really appreciate being a scapegoat for the political status 
of the United States, thank you just the same.