What a Difference a Guv Makes!
By Sue Hyde, Director of Creating Change, January 16, 12:11 pm
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined throngs yesterday to remember the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Patrick took the U.S. Supreme Court to task for failing to protect the civil rights of black and brown people, saying justices acknowledge the impacts and effects of discrimination but do not intervene to stop it. Tell it, Guv!
Patrick also spoke about the expanding notion of civil rights and inclusion of LGBT people and communities in the updated concept of civil rights protections. He underscored his opposition to the anti-marriage constitutional amendment that is just one legislative session away from reaching the statewide ballot.
“Today in Massachusetts, the use of the initiative petition process, to insert discrimination into the constitution, to limit individual freedoms, is unprecedented, and I'm going to do my best to encourage us not to do that,” Patrick is quoted as saying in the Boston Globe.
Earlier in the day, he said, “Whatever your views about marriage equality, whatever they are, we are on the brink of using a ballot initiative to enable the majority to tell the minority just how much equality they may have.”
This is not the first time that Gov. Patrick has advocated for LGBT interests, nor will it be the last. He was out front on the campaign trail, expressing his support for the 2003 court decision that gave us the right to marry. In spring 2006, Patrick addressed a predominantly black congregation and hit the perfect pitch when he told them that he knew many in the pews did not agree with him on the issue of marriage rights for same-sex couples, but they needed to work together to solve other and more pressing problems facing black communities in Massachusetts.
On Jan. 2, the day of infamy when our hopes were dashed for an end to the current battle over constitutional recognition of our right to marry, Patrick lobbied the legislative leadership to kill the amendment by any means necessary. Reportedly, his brazen attempt to scuttle the constitutional amendment that would strip us of our constitutional right to marry (roll that one around in your head a couple of times!) annoyed the high-and-mighty Democratic leaders of the Legislature, who are unaccustomed to sharing power with a Democrat in the governor's seat. Local pundits chalk it up as a political loss for our new Guv, but Patrick is undeterred. The guy is foursquare on our team, and what a difference he makes!
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Tuesday, 1/16/2007, 6:16 PM (EST) Hello Sue, I heard about the upcoming struggle to defeat the anti-marriage equality ballot initiative in Massachusetts at last weekend’s National Conference on Media Reform. We fought the good fight here in Tennessee, but were not successful in turning back the tide of bigotry in this past November’s election. Being in a bright red state, that was no surprise. What was a surprise was how many people vote to insert this affront to human rights in our state constitution. 81% of Tennesseans voted to do so. Frankly, I found that quite discouraging. But there was a glimmer of hope for my local area. At 29% voting against Amendment 1, Knox County came in second in the state, topped only by Davidson County, the county that contains Nashville, arguably our most cosmopolitan area. Apparently, we have more supporters in Knoxville that we do in Memphis or Chattanooga. But you have a much better chance of winning in Massachusetts. We look to your state to be the first to defeat a statewide ballot initiative. (Please correct me if I am mistaken on this.) I have to take issue with a statement included in the Same-Sex Marriage Initiatives and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Voters in the 2006 Elections by Patrick J. Egan and Kenneth Sherrill. Quoting the paper from page 8: Democrats were four times as likely as Republicans to oppose the amendment and independents were about three times as likely as Republicans to oppose the amendment, but this must be read in the context of there being virtually no opposition to the amendment in Tennessee. I must take umbrage here. While I realize that Patrick and Kenneth are speaking statistically, this really bites. The Vote No on 1 campaign worked tirelessly from their headquarters in Nashville with both Randy Tarkington and Dr. Marisa Richmond working virtually nonstop in the weeks and months before the election. Locally in the Knoxville area, we had several groups contributing to our opposition effort. Tennesseans for Faith and Freedom arose from the membership of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. At one press conference organized by this group, there were no less than 15 clergy present, making their support of marriage equality widely known. In addition, there were young people from the University of Tennessee Lambda Student Union who pounded the pavement, going door-to-door to identify supporters and urge them to go to the polls. Other volunteers waged awareness campaigns by phone and online. Yes, we lost. We lost abysmally, but we tried very hard to maximize our efforts in this struggle for basic human rights for LGBTQ people in Tennessee. We live on the front lines of the culture war and have grown thick-skinned from these battles in our home communities. Even as recently as today, I heard from a man in Middle Tennessee who is reaching out to LGBTQ people in rural counties. He is organizing a group to serve as a resource in areas where none exist. On January 2, I launched the Equality Herald. It is the first-ever LGBTQ news source originating in East Tennessee. I have brought the news to East Tennessee for three years as the East Tennessee Bureau Chief for Out and About Newspaper. It was simply time for us to have our own vehicle to bring the news of the LGBTQ community to our people and their allies in this place I call home. In solidarity and hope, Beth Maples-Bays |
