What a wonderful week it was!

Obamacare, commonly known among those in the know as "The Affordable Care Act,"  stands as is.  After a massacre in Charleston of 9 Blacks in a church, the Rebel flag has been removed from the flagpole at the Capital.  And discrimination for my gay comrades has ended and they are free to marry.  Imagine that!  I took up the banner of gay rights over 30 years ago, so this was a real victory to me.

Of course, with the SCOTUS ruling, comes the "Bible Thumpers."  Relax!  I am one myself.  I tout the Bible to anyone that will listen.  I preach love, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance, kindness, and truth.  But being on social media, there is always an opinion and a lot of links to prove a point.  So it upset me yesterday when a link was posted to "prove by the Bible" that gays can not only not marry, but as near as I can tell, not exist and will burn in hell!  To this I will hit the unfriend button every time.

I have lived and worked along side some of the sweetest people in the world who happen to be gay.  30 years ago, when I took up this banner, I knew there would be no turning back.  And I haven't.  My God made my gay friends just exactly as they are.  My God does not make mistakes.  The Old Testament is full of all kinds of things you can not do.  You can not eat shell fish, nor the cloven hoof, and if your brother dies without leaving any children you have to marry his wife and carry on his seed.  But that is the Old Testament.  All things are now new.

I was a care giver through the height of the AIDS epidemic and still volunteer with Southern Colorado AIDS Project (although it has a different  name now).  I was there when the Privacy Act was being implemented.  I was there to hold frail bodies as they left this world.  I was there when they thought AIDS could be caught by touching.  I was there as a shoulder to lean on or as a whipping post for someone lashing out at mans inhumanity to man.  I was there when the medicines were being introduced that have now changed the death sentence of AIDS to a manageble condition.  And through it all, the one group we could always count on for support of a financial nature or a shoulder to lean on when we were tired was the gay community.

The gay community that was called names because they were different.  Because a woman loved a woman or a man loved a man.  Hated in the name of love!  Does that sound like a Godly person to you?  "Judge not lest ye be the judge."  I am proud to be who I am, a straight woman with a whole lot of gay friends.  I am proud to set beside my gay friend in church because I know if I need something, he will be there!

So today I will go worship my God.  My God who accepts me as I am.  My God who loves all people and I will thank the Surpreme Court Of The United States for being unbiased and showing me that , yes there is justice in this world and right does sometimes win.

Welcome to Pueblo, Colorado, Westboro Baptist Church!!

Here is the front of the Pueblo County Courthouse where Bo Ortiz foams at the mouth to  marry fag dogs!!!

It was snowing like the dickens when I left the house this morning to attend the counter rally at the court house.  Like a whole bunch of other people, it was a call that could not go unanswered.  When it was time to  have the speakers (I was included in that venue) we all moved inside.  I am anxiously awaiting a head count. I have no idea how many people were there, but when we went to walk around the court house we marched 3-4 abreast and covered the whole area around the courthouse.

Westboro had 6.  We were not allowed to go that direction.  The told us to move right along, but did let me point my camera in the direction of the group.  That might be one on the other side of the fence.  Now, you all know I am a pacifist, so I would have been very kind to them, but since I did not see any, I could not "spread the love".

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This is my son Bret and Misha, his boss who owns Heritage Organics.  I am on the end wearing my "cicil disobedience shirt, other wise known as a "tie dye."

Here is Janet Altmann and myself being very, very good.

But if you want to know what a show of solidarity looks like, please enjoy these pictures.

 They were even hanging from the balcony around the rotunda!

Westboro did not linger long!  All in all, it was sure worth the trip onto town during a blinding blizzard.  I am going to pop this over on youtube and will put a link on here.  I am, in the meantime counting this as a great day.  

And if you missed my speech, here it is in it's entirety!

The gay rights movement in the US is often traced to June 27, 1969, in New York City, when police raided a Greenwich Village bar, the Stonewall Inn, and bar patrons rebelled in protest. Seven years later, in 1976, in Dade County, Florida, Anita Bryant led the first religious campaign against gay rights.
In Colorado an amendment was placed on the ballot in 1992 by a religious group centered in Colorado Springs. 
Amendment 2 reads as follows:
"Neither the State of Colorado, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities or school districts, shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of, or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination. This Section of the [Colorado] Constitution shall be self-executing."
At that time there were 2 little gay guys in Pueblo, Colorado.  Fortunately there were also two or 3 mothers and a friend who had lost a friend to AIDS in a loosely held group known as PFLAG.  I found them in 1990 when they were meeting in the basement of the old Red Cross building on Pueblo Boulevard in an unmarked room to protect our identity.  Yep I was one of them.  We spoke out against Amendment 2, but in hushed tones.  We put up NO on 2 signs and they were promptly torn down.
The amendment was passed by a majority of Colorado voters in November 1992, and was to take effect on January 15, 1993. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, the cities of Boulder, Aspen, and Denver, and individual plaintiffs joined forces under the leadership of attorney Jean Dubofsky, a former Colorado Supreme Judicial Court judge, and filed a motion in Denver District Court seeking to enjoin the governor and state of Colorado from enforcing Amendment 2. On January 15, 1993, Judge Jeffrey Bayless granted a preliminary injunction, giving the plaintiffs the first victory in a legal struggle over the constitutionality of Amendment 2. That injunction was later made permanent, but was then appealed to the US Supreme Court.
Now SCEA members!  Listen up.  On the night of the election, when Amendment 2 passed with a clear majority a phone tree went into action and a business on Elizabeth Street opened for a gathering of probably 50-60 gay people.  Many of them wore “Don’t shoot!  I am really a black bear.”  Because a measure protecting the black bears had passed. 
Out of that meeting grew a need to protect our gay friends.  We knew we must let people know that gay existed and existed in Pueblo Colorado.  A group was formed at that time and christened with the name “Pueblo After 2.”  Our symbol was an upside down pink triangle.  We quietly infiltrated the straight world.  The pioneers in this movement were the 2 gay guys, Joe Roderick and our Beloved late David Hackenberry.  Thanks also to Donna, Carolyn, Warren, and the list goes on and on.  As gay people came out of the closet and awareness swept Pueblo and all of Colorado.  When amendment 2 was faded in the background we became politically active and needed a new name.  Up jumped Southern Colorado Equality Alliance.  From that came Out Front Youth Group, and other splinter groups that are now respected and do many good works.  I never thought I would live to see a gay pride parade, but now I actually participate.
We did not get where we are by violence, hatred or intimidating people.  Westboro Baptist Church would have us stoop to their level, but we will not.  We are equal citizens of this great country and we are treated as equals not because of a law, but because we are equal.  I thank Gilbert Ortiz for standing with our friends and family against the forces of evil.
SCEA, that is where you came from.  I was there.  I am a charter lifetime member of Pueblo After 2 and am supposed to get the newsletter from you, but you have forgotten about your roots.  So I just wanted to remind you.

http://youtu.be/hgpZCE6yhYw

What is going on in my little pointy head today?

     Well, usually not much since I stay on "auto pilot" most of the time, but today my thoughts are a jumble.  First, I am glad they passed the "Gay Marriage Bill" in New York.  New York has always been on the cutting edge of the Gay Rights Movement, more so than even California in my humble opinion.  I have always been rather on the fence about the word "marriage" in connection with same sex couples, but they never gave me a choice in the matter so of course I supported it all the way.  I could have been satisfied with a different word, but that is just me.  I am very happy that my gay friends are making strides in that area and I celebrate this victory!  Now as long as they are given the same rights as hetrosexual couples it will be a good thing, but there is still that federal government to contend with, isn't there?
    As I look back on my life, I almost cringe at the inhumanity to man that I have seen.  I realize I did not actually "see" slavery, but I did see the Blacks treated as less than second class citizens.  I seen the riots because people of a different color wanted their children to have an education equal to the people they served.  Blacks were chattle which, if you remove the "h" becomes cattle.  Americans went to Africa and kidnapped them and brought them over here and then when they were freed, screamed at them to "Go back to Africa!"  They did not want to come here in the first place, but I am not going to go there this morning.  You are all aware of the Civil Rights struggle.
     Now, is that worse than what was done to women?  How many years or centuries were women deemed to be the property of some man and had no rights what so ever?  Ever study up on how women were treated since the beginning of time?  They could serve the husband, but if he died they were flat out of luck.  Where would I be today if I lived in those times?  Not here on a computer sharing my views with the world, that is for sure. 
     I think the homosexual population is going to be our last vista as far as equality is concerned.  I realize we still have the politically correct things we need to observe and they are more than even I can keep up with sometimes.  Like in our church, we must refer to God in the neutral sense, meaning he is neither  male nor female.  Sorry, I was raised that God is male.  God is God.  Years ago I had a tee shirt that said "When God made man, she was only kidding!"  But I never believed that for even a minute.  I know there are people reading this who will scoff at me, but who cares.  I scoff right back at them because I am a free, white woman and that is what I do.
    Back to the man's inhumanity to man thing for a bit.  I can recall way back when I lived in Nickerson. Kansas and dad would talk about a family of "niggras" that lived on the edge of town.  It was alright if they came to town to buy stuff in the daylight,  but they better not ever try to come to town after the sun went down.  In all honesty, I could not imagine why they would want to go to town in the dark because everything was closed!  I always thought my dad would have made a great KKK member and the only reason I think he wasn't was because mom could not spare the sheet!  I never laid eyes on this elusive family, nor did I ever see the "Gypsy's"  that were camped over to the West of the McQueen place.  And those are the ones I needed to watch because they were the ones that would steal me and go sell me some where if I was not a good little girl.
     Nickerson was a very white community.  Oh, we had our share of odd balls, but we were odd balls ourselves.  Darn good thing that was not illegal or they would have hung us all.  There was Hank Windiate, who was crippled on one side and went to town in a buckboard with a sad looking old horse.  Never married.  Across from him was Jerry and Ora Ayres.  She had a bit of brain damage from an accident when they were first married. He grew enough produce and peanuts to feed the county.  Jake Smith used to be a deputy and sat in a chair all day long cleaning his gun.  Rudolph Reinke lost his wife with the birth of his last daughter.  He raised his last 4 girls alone, was a handyman and did his work while singing at the top of his lungs in German.  We were the first house on that block.  Now this is just one block, and it is only a sampling.  This does not include Whittlin' Joe and Johnny Carson, or the family in the boxcar. 
     My point here is simply that I am not one to throw stones.  My childhood was typical, I feel, as was yours for your time and area.  Did God make anyone of us better than the other?  Is it my job to be judge and jury for mankind?  I rather think not.  I am going to set right here in my little corner of the world and continue to dispense my words of wisdom as they occur to me.  No doubt I will die a lonely old woman, but that is alright too.  When I get to heaven I am going to put on my dancing shoes and dance all over heaven.  Maybe God will let me set on his lap and help judge a few of the hypocrites that come knocking on the door.  Hey, maybe he will let me judge that one guy that told me just last year that I was going to rot in hell and should be burned at the stake for what I believe.  Know what?  I would probably let him in cause I bet he is sorry.  He just grew up on a different street than I did!