Tom Zerafa: The Activist, The Organist... The Mayor?

I have always been a big advocate of political advocacy and there are many things people in the GLBT community can do to get more involved in their communities.

Well, a good friend of mine, Tom Zerafa has decided to run for Mayor of Oak Park. Tom has been an activist for a long time. He was involved in ACT UP many years ago and with many charities today, including Triangle Foundation. He has decided to run because he wants a better community. That is why anyone running for office should run. His involvement in MoveOn and other progressive groups keeps his spirit alive. He truly is committed to justice and equality. That is why he is running.

Regardless of what anyone thinks our current mayor (who has appointed me twice to the Oak Park Ethnic Advisory Commission), this is less about who people should support and more about the fact that a friend of mine is running for office. He is actually doing something about his community.

Mayor Gerald Naftaly has been the mayor of Oak Park for many years and he has done good things, but a major issue for me has been the lack of a human rights ordinance. Triangle Pride PAC will be surveying the candidates for mayor this summer and we will be able to tell who will really advocate for GLBT equality.

I have not financially supported either candidate but this is a race to watch. There other other races in Michigan with openly gay candidates, like Flint, but I live in Oak Park and so this is close to home for me. In fact, Triangle Foundation has nearly 250 supporters in Oak Park, and I plan on doing a meet the candidate event in my home before fall. Stay tuned.

Rabbi Sherwin Wine has died!

Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of Triangle Foundation, has blogged about the death of Rabbi Sherwin Wine.

Although I was not close with Rabbi Wine, I feel very affected by his death. He was on the Board of Advisors for Triangle Foundation. He was killed in a car accident over the weekend in Morocco. He started an international phenomenon called Humanistic Judaism, which bridges Jewish thought and tradition with ideals and principles of spirituality that are more universals beyond Judaism. He was a hero to many and his death is a huge loss.

Sherwin Wine was gay and his partner was in the same car accident, though in surgery from the injuries himself.

As a man with a Jewish father and a student of sorts to humanism, I feel a connection to his work and his mission in life. Charting a course for spirituality that strays from the norm can be scary and isolating. My early years were defined by me leaving the Catholic Church and seeking truth in other faiths. My studies and my professional circle led me to meet Sherwin many times.

I regret that I did not get a chance to spend more time with him and learn more about the early years of the Birmingham Temple, which he founded. I look forward to the upcoming flurry of stories in the news and the tributes around Metro Detroit to this amazing man.

Giuliani Against Civil Unions!

In a recent campaign stop Rudy Giuliani made yet another gesture to the religious right. He reiterated his opposition to marriage equality for gays and lesbians and more formally opposed civil unions, which he has stated before, but now he seems more convincing. He coupled the remarks with a mild gesture supporting equal rights.

Giuliani wants to speak out of both sides of his mouth. He has had many gay supporters in the past and now he is essentially blowing them off but with a kinder, gentler form of discrimination. He is basically saying he supports equality, but with an asterisk.

Here is the quote from the Siouxland article:

Giuliani said he believes marriage should be between one man and one woman and said he doesn't support civil unions, which he said are same-sex marriages in another name. But he said he would support "domestic partnerships," in which the rights of gays would be protected.

"People who are gay, people who are lesbian should have their rights protected," Giuliani said, and "the government should be out of that decision."

'Nuff said. The most pro-gay guy in the race is less pro-gay than Bush, who supports civil unions. That means the Republican contenders are actually devolving not evolving on these issues. This means one thing -- the right wing is bad for our nation's progress.

It also means that the most pro-gay Republican candidate, the one in the lead, is also less pro-gay than every Democrat in the race. No big surprise.

Is Thompson the new darling of the right?

The Nation magazine (my favorite liberal rag) just ran a big story about Fred Thompson and how he is likely to enter the Presidential race (officially) soon. With McCain in decline (down but not out) and Romney and Giuliani unimpressive to the evangelicals, Thompson is quickly becoming the candidate d'jour -- despite his shortcomings.

Here is my favorite quote in the entire article. It comes from Gary Glenn, the homophobe in Chief in MI:

The best way to ensure that Hillary Clinton is the next President is to nominate Rudy Giuliani or John McCain or Mitt Romney, all of whom will give social conservatives sufficient cause to go fishing. – Gary Glenn, AFA MI

The leading Republican candidates for President are not exciting to social conservatives like Mr. Glenn, who is on a campaign to smear Mitt Romney. Romney used to support gay rights and abortion rights, but once he had his eye on the presidency he moved hard right.

The fact that Glenn is saying, this far out from the 2008 elections, that the leading Republican contenders would not excite the base, spells bad news for conservatives.

Gay Presidential Debate Should be broad in scope

I was very excited to learn that there would be, for the first time, an entire presidential debate dedicated to GLBT issues. Kudos to HRC and LOGO for pulling this together.

The event will air live on the gay network LOGO on August 9th. Already Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich have confirmed their attendance.

There is already some controversy over this event regarding which candidates have been invited and whether or not Melissa Etheridge is the best person to be asking questions at the debate. Although that is interesting to me, I don't really care about that right now. I just want to pause and think about what an important event this will be.

GLBT people from all over the world may see this as a beacon of the kind of political power our community is beginning to harness. I hope one day, however, that the Republican candidates would be eager enough to embark on such an endeavor. But hey, one step at a time.

My hunch is that there will not be a significant difference between most of the viable Democratic candidates. Clearly some of them are willing to go further on the question of marriage equality, but their attitudes are mostly aligned. The real question is, who has integrity and who will fight for GLBT equality.

I think this debate will be about style, reputation and cultural competency. People will be able to read the body language of these candidates to tell who is most comfortable with this. I also think it would be smart for the candidates to tell personal stories and anecdotes about their record on this issue and loved ones that are GLBT.

Most of all I hope that people do not dwell on marriage for most of the debate. There are many more issues affecting our community including issues that don't appear GLBT on their face like the REAL ID Act and access to health care. These candidates should not expect to only be asked questions about GLBT issues. They should be asked to articulate the interconnectedness of other progressive positions with GLBT issues and give our community a vision we can fight for.

I will blog about the debate after it occurs to flesh out my thoughts. Our community should be galvanized behind someone sooner than later.

An Inconvenient Youth

I'm smiling now. I smile every day when I think about the shifting political trends in this country toward GLBT equality.

With each passing poll (and there are more and more each year) attitudes toward marriage equality, gays in the military and even adoption keep improving. Several factors continue to be strong markers; religiosity, education and age. Of course it is not that simple, but I want to brag for a moment, that youth (the voters of tomorrow) are on our side.

I am only thirty-one years old, but when I came out at seventeen in 1994 things were very different than they are today. And just five years before that, things were very different than in 1994. Youth are coming out in record numbers. They are coming out sooner. They are coming out bigger. And they are coming out in ways that weren't even possible when I was in high school.

Above all, youth are coming out in a climate that is more ready for them, than any other generation before. We know that a combination of cultural awareness, visibility and access to the internet have all been factors. But something more is happening. There is an organic and beautiful force at work that is helping more workplaces, classrooms and houses of worship treat the issue of GLBT inclusion as a no brainer. I really feel we have hit the tipping point.

I am under no illusion that things are just fine, or that anti-GLBT discrimination, bullying, violence, or defamation is not occuring every day in America. But every day that we survive the experience of the world, our movement advances, and young people are among the group that is advancing the fastest.

The coolest thing about this is that it pisses off the religious right. They have been terrified for years that this would happen. They put every roadblock in place to ensure that it didn't occur...and they failed. There is no way they can put the toothpaste back in the tube now. Older voters are being replaced by younger voters and those voters overwhelmingly support GLBT equality.

Christian conservatives have worked hard to support youth movements like Campus Crusade for Christ and Battlecry but they cannot undo what has been created by a steadfast and tenacious GLBT movement. We are reaping the benefits of decades of work.

But we are not in the clear. We must continue to support GLBT youth serving organizations and protect questionning youth from predatory extremists who are more interested in fear than they are in the truth.

Let's keep up the good work.