Why I still support Dean - Democratic Underground

dsc

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Sat Jan-10-04 09:26 PM
Original message

Why I still support Dean

Warning this post won't trash other candidates.

As many of you know I was a huge Gore fan. I almost certainly would be supporting him had he decided to run. But he didn't. So I went elsewhere.

I had also known Dean from before. When the first gay marriage decision was handed down in Hawaii I was living in MS. Needless to say all Hell broke lose down there. There was a law passed almost immediately banning gay marriage in MS (proposed and signed by the philandering Fordice). Then the same philanderer wanted a Constitutional amendment. Gladly some common sense broke out. Then, like a mirage, the decision was overturned by amendment. Then Alaska had a court decision. And another mirage.

By 1999, I had moved back up to Ohio and was amazed that we had our third decision. This time, it was no mirage. In a scant four months, for the first time in 224 years, gays and lesbians in these United States had a place where their relationships would have the same legal sanctity that straight ones had.

That didn't happen by accident. Some profoundly dishonest people will tell you tales they like on this. They will tell you the constitution couldn't be changed. They will tell you he never expressed support of this bill until he signed it. They will tell you that he had no choice. They are telling tales.

Then Dean showed us how to win after having signed it. In a scant 7 months Dean ran, and won, a tough three way race with 50% of the vote. He ran telling the people what he did and why he did it. He didn't hide us in some closet. He didn't blame the court, the legislature, or the weather. He looked those people in the eye and told them that gays are people too. And he won.

Then I started to show up at Meet Ups. In my area we had one Meet Up in April and May and they both had something like 10 people. Then as summer came I got more involved. I went to Pride Day and only Dean had an organized presence. I went to a local county fair (one of the most conservative counties in my state) and handed out literature there. And right on his literature, in that conservative county, he had strong support for both gay rights and civil unions in plain English. No laundry list of rights. He didn't tell the Pride Day cround one thing and the conservative voters another. His support of us was out of the closet. That sealed the deal.

There are a host of other reasons I support this man but that is why I am so staunch in my support. He has been a true friend of gays and lesbians. I know, from personal experience, how hard it is to stand up for gays and lesbians in less than ideal areas. I know how tempting it was to shade the truth or, to be more blunt lie, to stay popular in those situations. I used to lie all the time to avoid the conflict. Dean didn't take the easy way out.

A true friend does what Dean did. He told us what he believed, fought like a tiger for us, and didn't back down. And he won.

I was resigned to, as I so often do, to supporting my candidate until March or April and then supporting the nominee. Now I am faced with the pleasant prospect of supporting my first choice. I will do so until the last dog dies.