Gay of the Labor Day Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk has risen to be the shining example of what the motivation of one man can do. One simple man who changed the face of gay history. Harvey didn't even come out of the closet until later in his life and still he was able to see what the closet was doing to himself and the gay and lesbian people around him. He recognized shame and how it was used to oppress his peoples and make them slaves to the people who chose to oppress them. The triumph of Harvey's life was that he was an average person who ended up doing extraordinary things and influenced generations of gay man and women and in ernest became the voice of the gay rights movement. There was nothing in his past that would suggest that he would become this symbol. There was no rich backer giving him the momentum to be the face of gay rights. It was a personal decision to help his brothers and sisters. It was determination and sheer will power that enabled him and his band of MARY men and women that defeated the christians who sought to take away our rights and livelihood. 

Today I hear people say to me "We just have to wait and be patient our day is coming." "We should try and make them like us instead of upsetting them." Well guess what those people feel justified to let gay and lesbian people be second and third class people. They WANT us to die and feel that we can't have the same as them. They want us to endure torture and beatings and death and say that that is what God wants. They feed us our own shame and the best we can do is roll over and say we will wait till they change their minds.

Where is our power? Where are the average men and women who take to the streets in the face of injustice. How many queer peoples have gotten off their asses to take to the street to do something about this situation? Where is the average citizen; whom this government is meant to protect; that are using their voices for a better day for ALL peoples? If they can oppress some then they can oppress many. It was the environs of Germany who allowed the "least of these" to be persecuted and killed and turned a blind eye that led to the deaths of millions of ethnic and social "outcasts" be killed on mass. It was the environs of this world who turned a blind eye to the AIDS epidemic and let thousands and thousands of people die. In fact Regan is considered a hero when really his lack of action created a genocide for the gay male population. The lies that are perpetuated are becoming truth. They are not the truth but because our voices are silenced by waiting that these atrocities have taken place. If we don't wake up right now today that they could happen and is happening again through government cuts to the poest of the poor and denying equal rights to all citizens of this country! We are no longer the great free nation but a terrorist group that forces others to bend to an unjust will and lets its own environs die and be treated as dogs.

Yet all that was needed was to step up and be counted. All that we need today is to start the march to freedom for the gay people of the world. You. Our movement needs you. Not the you that is afraid and lets fear stand in the way. Not the you that finds an excuse to go to a bar or lead marches to the Castro instead of the streets that feel it is alright to kill and maime and oppress us! We must leave the ghetto because that is where we are safe and change will only come when we confront the world with its unjust laws and bigotry. Now we need the you that is tired of being beaten. We need the you who wants to take back the streets from injustice and bigotry. We need the you who wants to wake up in a world where we do not have to fear persecution and violence. We need the you who is the average man or woman or transgender who wants to live their life.

It is not impossible to create change. It is the use of our voices that creates change. Sometimes we must raise our voices and use our anger to make a better day. We must take to the streets and to the straight society that still wishes to keep us down. We must continue to stand up and be counted and make our dreams a reality. We, you and i, are the only ones who can make it happen. There is no need to be apathetic and say that we are really just waiting for the change that will come. There is no reason for anyone to stay at home and make excuses as to why they are not out there fighting the fight, writing their representatives that are supposed to protect us as citizens of this country, using our voice to bring awareness that the bigotry wrapped up in Christian clothing is still bigotry.

We are average citizens and Harvey showed us that against all odds that we are the ones with the power. We are the ones with the voice to create change. Just because it seems hard or inconvenient or nearly impossible is not a reason to do nothing! That is just lazy and sad behavior of people who have let themselves become sheep and let fear rule their lives. This is the real danger to civil rights for all. There was no reason our rights should have been taken away. We gained our rights, we were on the path to freedom and equality, but we were taken. We fell asleep. We the average persons let this happen. I did and so did you. We have a stronger organization and more visibility than ever before and yet we let them keep us down. It is time again for the average person to demand what is ours. Harvey Milk did it so WE know it is possible.

Now is not the time to argue over action and fear retribution. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We as a people, a gay army, citizens of the US and the World, and shaman, as leaders, as artists, as writers, as average joe's need to find our voice and use it and take back the rights that were stolen by bigots and fear mongers. It is the voice of the average citizen that is needed now. That voice that was not used yesterday must be used today so that change can happen. End the time of sloth and sleep and awake to the possibility of the new day and the promise of a BETTER world not for ourselves but for everyone. 

The average man and women in this country must stand up and be counted instead of lying dormant and unheard from. It is not a bad thing to use our voices but the very ideal that built this country. It is the backbone of our once great nation that ALL men are created as equals. Not some more than others. Not just the rich or the pious or the liars and cheats but ALL of us. The average man is the voice of this country and if things are not working it is not the government who needs to fix it but us.

We have become so lazy and unconcerned that we are in this position now. We were given the right to have our lives as we see fit and we have just given all that we have gained back to the oppressors! We have not taken up the cry that bigotry and injustice is not what is acceptable to us. We as the common people have this right and we should use it to our advantage. There is no reason to wait for equal rights. There is no reason not to be angry and we must use that anger to gain equality. There is no reason to sit back and wait for the day to come. We must follow the lead of Harvey Milk and seize the day. The average person must find the strength in themselves to get off the couch and move to the street and use our voices to stand up to injustice. It may seem that the wheels are turning but if they are able to take the rights of gays and lesbians away in the 5th largest economy in the world then it can be done throughout the world and done in the name of justice. Things can get worse by waiting and doing nothing not better. It is inaction that allows civil rights to be taken away and keeps us on the edge of being who we are for real. We must realize our place in society it will not be given. By sitting back and saying it will happen we just take more steps backwards to a time when there is no protection to be offered us.

It is time now for us to use our average voice to cast off shame and oppression. It is time to find the extra ordinary in all of us. It is time for us to have what is ours and stop apologizing for demanding it. Plain fact is is that we are people, we are human, and we deserve and have every right to be equal to everyone else on this planet. It is time to take Harvey Milk's fight on in ernest! We must use what we have learned from this average man and make ourselves extra ordinary. That is why Harvey Milk is my Gay of the day. He could do it and so can we!