ok_cpu
ok_cpu's JournalWe Used to Say That It Didn't Matter
I was listening to Joe Sudbay and Noah Michelson on the way home from work and it stirred me:
I've been around DU a long time and don't post a lot. But, one of my very early posts was to ask for advice for how to support our then middle-school aged son after he'd left a browser window open that showed he was at least questioning his orientation.
Ultimately, we decided to just maintain an open environment. To show support for the LGBTQ community. To say that "it didn't matter" who people love or how they identify. That everyone should be loved and respected for who they are.
He's in his early twenties now and is living openly as a gay man. We never had a formal conversation where he came out. At some point he mentioned someone he was interested in, looked at me and his mother, and said "I never made a big deal about it, because I knew it didn't matter to you." I'll never fully understand what his journey from questioning to openness was like, but I at least felt like we must have given him a safe space to make it.
But again, there was that phrase - "it didn't matter."
Today, as I listened to Sudbay and Michelson talk about this administration, their terrible and hateful policies, and their lasting impact on the judiciary, I realized it does matter.
It matters like hell.
My son is gay. Your brother or sister may be transgender. Maybe your neighbors are a same-sex couple. Or your best friend bisexual. Really, it doesn't matter. Except it does.
It matters that there are people who believe my son, and all members of the LGBTQ community, are "intrinsically disordered."
It matters that they would deny them care and services.
It matters that they would deny them housing.
It matters that they would deny them service to their country.
It matters that they would deny them employment and the dignity of work.
It matters that they would deny them the safety and security of marriage.
It matters that they would deny them the fulfillment of having a family.
It matters that they would beat, maim, and even kill them.
I wish I had some great rallying cry or call to action to end this post. But all I have is to keep loving, fighting as hard as I can, and to vote.
As allies it may not matter to us who our LGBTQ brothers and sisters love. But, it sure as hell matters that we love them.
Here's what an ironclad case looks like to me:
Let's suppose:
All of our intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies agreed that the intelligence branch of a foreign military had a clear preference in the presidential election and actively worked to influence the election in favor of their chosen candidate
That the candidate's party platform, and administration policies, have been shaped to favor that foreign power
That there were multiple indictments as a result of the evidence of that influence
That the chosen candidate's campaign committee and other surrogates had hundreds of documented contacts with that foreign government or their cutouts
That they lied and covered up those contacts, resulting in many more indictments and convictions
That a bipartisan appointed Special Counsel said that he couldn't find evidence to confirm or clear the president of conspiracy for all of the influence and contacts because of all of the lying and obstruction
That the bipartisan appointed Special Counsel said "I'm forbidden by policy to indict the president, and since I can't indict him, I can't give an opinion that he committed crimes because he won't get his day in court. But, if I believe that he didn't commit crimes, I will say so..."
That the president was an unnamed / un-indicted co-conspirator in a scheme to commit fraud in order to influence the election
That the president has propped up dictatorships in contradiction to his own country, to the benefit of the same foreign power
That the president accepts foreign influence in the form of payments funneled through his various family businesses, and shapes policy toward that influence
That the president ignored the law and built internment camps along the border for human beings coming to America for asylum
That the president intentionally separated children from their parents
That the president has no discernible policy or ability for returning those children to their family
That one, no four, no six - just to be fair - children died while in those internment camps
That the president has codified discrimination and hatred, regularly referring to non-straight, white, males as "animals", "nasty" "shit-holes"
That the president has sacrificed the most vulnerable in favor of the most privileged
That the president has compromised the safety of the country by leaving key cabinet positions vacant, or filling them with unqualified sycophants
That the president has harmed producers and consumers with baffling, damaging, and poorly constructed economic policies
I know that's a very high bar, but if those conditions were to come to be, I would expect the House to begin impeachment hearings immediately and force all members of Congress to go on the record condemning, defending, or failing to stand up to this absolute fucking abomination in the white house.
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Member since: Thu Jul 8, 2004, 03:11 PMNumber of posts: 2,049
