This the question my mother is really asking, when we discuss the issue of being gay in America, when she says, "I don't care what they are, but I'm tired of it being in my face all the damn time."
What she really means, is, "Why do you want this? Why is it so damned important to you that you have to keep bringing it up all the damned time?"
I always have answers for her, good answers, too. Because a person is who and what they are. Why shouldn't everyone have the same rights: to marry the person of their choice, to proudly wear the uniform of the United States Armed Forces? How can we pick out a group and say, "except for you people"?
We can't. Not honestly, not if we value the words and ideas our nation is founded on (I challenge any conservative to show me where the bloody Constitution says No Homosexuals Allowed).
So, it's a quiet Sunday, and I'm channel surfing, for background noise, and what do I catch?
The tail-end of a movie so badly under-rated that it makes me want to swat something.
Some people keep saying, "Robin Williams, that guy is damned funny, it's a pity he can't act very well."
Some people are idiots, and more are born every day.
So, I come in just at the end scenes.
(fade in: Older Andrew Martin, in pale suit, takes the witness podium,
Center Stage)
(Andrew shuffles to microphone)
Andrew Martin: I have aways tried to make sense of things, there must be some reason I am... as I am.
As you can see, Madame Chairperson, I am no longer immortal.
Madame Chairperson: You have arranged to die?
Andrew Martin: In a sense, I have.
I am growing old, and my body is deteriorating.
And, like all of you, it will eventually cease to function.
As a robot, I could have lived forever.
But I tell you all, today, I would rather die a man, (softly)than to live for all eternity as a machine.
Madame Chairperson: Why do you want this?
Andrew Martin: To be acknowledged, for who and what I am.
No more, no less.
Not for acclaim, not for approval.
The simple truth of that recognition, this has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved, if I am to live or die, with dignity.
Madame Chairperson: Mr. Martin, what you are asking for is extremely complex, and controversial. It will not be an easy decision. But I must ask for your patience, while I take the necessary time to make a determination of this extremely delicate matter.
Andrew Martin: I await your decision, Madame Chairperson. Thank you for your patience. (whispers to his wife, Portia, "we tried".)
Every time I watch this movie, I cry at the end. But today, with the echoes of Clarknt67's latest entry in his END DADT NOW diary series on my mind, suddenly, this scene held even greater significance for me.
Those words had always spoken to me, always moved me, but today I could see that no truer words have yet been spoken about the utter disgrace and shame that is the DADT program.
To be acknowledged, for who and what I am.
No more, no less.
Not for acclaim, not for approval.
The simple truth of that recognition, this has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved, if I am to live or die, with dignity.
and the words of Marjorie Boto (played by Lynne Thigpen) in the film, mirror the Obama Administation, to a T:
Madame Chairperson: Mr. Martin, what you are asking for is extremely complex, and controversial. It will not be an easy decision. But I must ask for your patience, while I take the necessary time to make a determination of this extremely delicate matter.
This matter is neither complex nor delicate.
It is, however, a matter of human dignity.
Mr. President and Members of Congress:
Shame on you, if you allow this distructive, worthless program to continue.
End Dont' Ask Don't Tell Now. Today would be good. Yesterday would be better.
Oh, and ask all of those nearly 15,000 US veterans who were discharged under DADT if they'd like to come back - that is the least that you can do.
Sincerely,
Angie in WA State
UPDATE:
I forgot to add, in the movie, Andrew Martin dies just before the announcement that the World Congress has validated his marriage to Portia and acknowledged his humanity.
It is sad commentary indeed, that our nation continues to sack our men an women in uniform for the heresy of forgetting their place in the virtual back of the bus, the one under the Cone of Silence.
Sadder yet, that those (yes, you Mr. President) with the power to affect real change here are sitting on the sidelines, bleating about studies and reports (which Clarknt67 shows us is BS, because those studies and reports already exist, a lot of them).
Time to Lead, Mr. President.
Time to Lead.