Bud Burgoon-Clark
San Diego CA USA

I met a man in Provincetown who said he and his partner was the 1,000th gay couple to get married in MA. During Provinncetown Gay Pride one year, he had a sign that IDed him and his as the 1,000th couple. I asked him about it and he say gay ouuple number 999 was announced and he and his partner rushed into the clerk’s office to be number 1,000.

I have said many times before especially during the Prop 8 fight, that people need to realize the power they have in numbers in such a huge blue state as California with such a large GLBT population.

I will be at gay marriage rally in Maryland next year and to meet with my legislators if need be. Fortunately all the legislators from my area are gay-friendly, some are gay and partnered themselves and all of my reps from are my are on board with MD gay marriage as is one several others. My rep in the US Congress is for gay rights and may be for gay marriage.

I have contacted my Senators in Congress to vote for a repeal of the Federal DOMA should that come up for a vote.

I intend to go to the closest state to me that has a National DOMA Protest Day rally. There is to be one in Boston, MA on January 10th, 2009.

The Democrats should boot the three rebels from their caucus and continue to sit in the opposition benches until the next election. Better have these DINOs run for re-election as Republicans in 2012 – in heavily Democratic districts – than give into their “demands” (which would require the Democrats to poach more three seats from GOPers on Long Island or Upstate to get anything done).

These people supposedly represent their constituents. So gay voters should be communicating with them, regardless of party, to make their case.

Also, at the party level, remember that in most cases these people run twice. First in party primaries, and then in the real election. If, for example, gays want to stop Democrats from “taking us for granted”, then we need to care more about the primaries and who the party’s candidates are going to be. Just because someone is a Democrat does not mean they’re a liberal.

Every single gay New Yorker needs to call their representatives and Senators in the Assembly and annoy the living hell out of them. YES!!

I am a VERY left of center person, I am much further left on social and economic issues than even the vast majority of “Liberal” and Progressive Democrats. I have little to NOTHING in common with the GOP. With all of this said, there are plenty of unlikely allies in New York’s GOP. New York, along with California and Massachusetts has a proud and historic tradition of having (capital L)Liberal Republicans and even Progressive Republicans. Theodore Roosevelt, my one and only favorite Republican President, is the archetypal Liberal Republican and he is as New York as the Statue of Liberty. So, this means gay and lesbian New Yorkers, regardless of partisan or ideological background need to pressure each and every assembly member on marriage equality, NOW.

Support and opposition to marriage equality in New York does NOT abide by party lines. There are Republicans who support us and there are plenty of Democrats who oppose us. So this is one of the few states, in which we don’t need to wait until Democrats have a comfortable majority to push for change. The time for change is NOW.

Also, I cringe each and every time someone uses the term “gay marriage”. Not that I am some Uber-PC nut, but when one uses the term “marriage equality” instead of “gay marriage” it makes it clear that we’re not supporting gay marriage over straight marriage. Also, in the 1990s and early 2000s, “gay marriage” as a term was used to describe all manner of semi-marital institutions such as domestic partnership and civil unions. Using the term marriage equality instead of gay marriage, takes steam out of the argument that “gay people want to destroy traditional marriage and replace it with gay marriage”. Also, when we ask a politician if they support marriage equality or not, it gives them little to no leeway in weaseling out of the question.

In Massachusetts and Canada, places where the marriage equality fight were successful, they used “marriage equality” almost exclusively in their phraseology and terminology. If the Rest of gay America wants to be succesful and make clear and concise arguments which will convince the convinceable, stop using the term “gay marriage” and replace it with “marriage equality”.