The one upside about the seemingly endless battle for marriage equality is watching people step up and, often on video, make the case for equality. And these testimonies live on in perpetuity on this amazing series of tubes.
It seems each time these fights come to a head the LGBT community gets delivered a new gem to win ever-more hearts and minds to the cause. Like Zach Wahls defending the dignity, honor and legitimacy of his own family, headed by his two moms in Iowa. It was so impactful it accomplished the very rare internet feat of going viral twice, and has racked up 2.5 million views.
Remember Phillip Spooner, 86-year-old World War II veteran of Maine, who asked marriage equality opponents "What do you think we fought for on Omaha Beach?" He was the proud father of a gay son.
New York's vote in 2009 failed. But what it did accomplish was it left behind a recording of state senator Diane Savino's remarkable speech. The Staten Island senator put more than a little New York City attitude into it, and it was a massive hit, and it now has a half million views, on YouTube, not bad for an previously nationally obscure state senator.
From Wednesday's debate in the Washington state House, there were many fine moments, and it is a shame it pick favorites. But one speech really does stand out, and is the one to be declared officially viral, and it came from Rep. Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) .
She ironically starts with,
"I don’t wax as eloquently as most of the people on the floor here..."
She is too modest, or maybe that evening she found a part of herself she didn't know. The best public speakers have a talent that springs from instinct, and connect when the audience can see you are being authentic, vulnerable, brave and sincere.
She may be modest because it was not the ordinary highly crafted political speech. There are no apparently focus-grouped talking points or soundbites. There are no grand rhetorical flourishes, or choreographed crescendos or diminuendos.
But that is precisely what makes it great.
There is only a mother, who clearly is very proud of her lesbian daughter, who she calls a "fabulous kid." She is a mom, who longs to throw her baby a real wedding, not a domestic partnership celebration. (She remarks "a 'domestic partnership' ... frankly sounds like a Merry Maids franchise to me.")
She is a kind, gentle, gracious woman who is willing to speak on behalf of people who some say are so very different from others. But she sees and makes the case, they are not so different at all.
In the four and half minutes there are moments that are touching and heartfelt, and others that are gently and genuinely very humorous.
As they say, I laughed, I cried!
The opponents of LGBT equality have only lies, and very scary—but totally absurd—hypothetical scenarios that will never come to pass, like Churches being sued out of business and public schools adopting a curriculum to teach your kids how to be gay.
So, thank you Rep. Walsh, for sharing your truth, the truth of what an authentic LGBT family actually looks like and what your marriage meant to you and why you want the same for your girl. These records are powerful public education resources to counteract the relentless lies and hate that opponents spew.
Please let us know where your fabulous girl is registered.
We'll see what we can do on that boyfriend project you've got going on. He'll be a lucky man. Hearts like yours are too rare.
Thanks to
Laurel Ramseyer at Pam's House Blend for the headline, and the transcript after the fold. She has more info on Rep. Walsh including the nugget she was a sponsor of Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009, delivering "everything but marriage" to the LGBT community. She was told her party betrayal would cost her. And in fact, she was
censured by her colleagues. They said, "Representative Maureen Walsh does not represent the values of the Franklin County Republican Party.”
And in the 2010 elections, she squared off in the general against an anti-gay conservative opponent that hit her on her support for the LGBT community.
And she proved her detractors wrong, stomping her anti-gay conservative rival in the general, by 78% to 22%. Guess equality is more popular than the religious right is telling people.
Transcript:
“I don’t wax as eloquently as most of the people on the floor here, but I’ve allowed my heart and my mind guide me in decisions that I’ve made on a lot of different issues that have been before us in the legislature. And I think sometimes that’s what we have to do.
“I too don’t want to wag my finger at anybody about which way you should vote on this. It’s certainly an issue of conscience to me, and certainly one that I have been weighing very heavily for the last few weeks.
“I was married for 23 years to the love of my life. He died 6 years ago, and you know, I’m a lonely old widow right now. I’m 51 yeas old, looking for a boyfriend. Not having much luck with that.
“And yet, when I think of my husband, and I think of all the wonderful years we had, and the wonderful fringe benefit of having three beautiful children, I don’t miss the sex. You know? And to me that’s kind of what this boils down to. I don’t miss that. I mean I certainly miss it, but it is certainly not the aspect of that relationship — that incredible bond I had with that human being — that I really, really genuinely wish I still had.
“So I think to myself, how could I deny the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life? To me it seems almost cruel.
“You know, years ago my daughter was in elementary school. Many of you have met my daughter, she’s a fabulous girl. She’s wonderful. My boys are great too, but my daughter is just something special. She was the light of her fathers eyes.
“And she went to school and there was a whole group of kids just picking on another kid. And you know, my daughter stood up for that kid. Even though it wasn’t the popular thing to do, she knew it was the right thing to do.
“I was never more proud of my kid, knowing that she was speaking against the vocal majority on behalf of the rights of the minority. To me, it is incumbent upon us as legislators in this state to do that. That is why we are here.
“I shudder to think that if folks who have preceded us in history did not do that, frankly I’m not sure I would be here, as a woman. I’m not sure other people would be here due to their race or their creed.
“To me that is what’s disconcerting. Someone made the comment that this is not about equality. Well yes, it is about equality. Why in the world would we not allow those equal rights for those individuals who truly were committed to one another in life? To be able to show that by way of a marriage?
“My daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago. And you know what, I thought I was just going to agonize about that. Nothin’s different. She’s still a fabulous human being, and she’s met a person that she loves very much, and some day, by God, I wanna throw a wedding for that kid.
“I hope that is exactly what I can do. I hope she will not feel like a second-class citizen involved in something called a “domestic partnership” that frankly sounds like a Merry Maids franchise to me.
“Thank you Mr. Speaker, that’s all I want to say. Thank you for the civil, wonderful debate today. It’s been great."
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