.jpg)
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
Obama Assures He's Committed to Gay Rights
He meets with gay and lesbian leaders, asking them for patience. The activists, though appreciative of the president's support, want to see bold action
By Peter Nicholas
June 30, 2009
Reporting from Washington — Facing a political backlash from an important voting bloc, President Obama met with leaders of the gay and lesbian community Monday, asking for patience and assuring them that in time he will usher in policy changes that protect them from discriminatory treatment.
"We've been in office six months now," the president said. "I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."
Obama is under mounting pressure to fulfill campaign promises to repeal laws barring gays from serving openly in the military and proclaiming marriage to be a union between a man and a woman.
Gay leaders also are unhappy about a legal brief submitted by Obama's Justice Department that gave a vigorous defense of the federal marriage law passed in 1996. The act holds that states need not recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Obama, joined by his wife, Michelle, told the 250-some elected officials and activists that he was required to uphold federal laws even if he personally disagreed with them. By the end of his tenure, he said, he will have taken steps that gays and lesbians long have hoped to see.
The reception was warm. People gathered in the East Room of the White House shouted, "Thank you, Mr. President" and "Love you."
But afterward, some guests echoed a point made by Obama: What matters is not supportive rhetoric but concrete steps toward fuller equality.
"While we appreciate that this president has given voice to so many important issues the gay and lesbian community faces, we also want him to take bold action," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Boston-based Family Equality Council, an advocacy group.
The occasion for the meeting Monday was the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York, considered the opening of the modern gay rights movement. Patrons at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village clashed with police during a raid in June 1969.
Invited to the White House event were major figures in the gay rights movement, including Frank Kameny, who lost his job as a government astronomer because of his sexual orientation. Kameny led a protest outside the White House in 1965, a risky thing to do in that era, Obama said.
Some in attendance applauded Obama for assembling such a large group of gay and lesbian leaders in the White House.
"The very fact that he would invite 200 LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] leaders from across the nation on the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the gay liberation movement is just an astounding thing," said Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who is gay. "Most people were standing around not believing they were actually guests in the White House. He expressed his opposition to the same things that we're all opposed to, and his support for things we hope to see happen: the end of 'don't ask, don't tell,' employment nondiscrimination and the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act."
Recognizing a breach with gay supporters, the White House has taken conspicuous steps to demonstrate the president is committed to gay rights. On June 17, Obama extended certain benefits to gay and lesbian federal employees. He also proclaimed this month "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month."
But disappointment persists. Some in the gay community are upset by the legal brief filed by the Obama administration in support of the Defense of Marriage Act. Two California men have sued to overturn the act, and the Justice Department defended the law's recognition of "a centuries-old form of marriage."
"I've called on Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act to help end discrimination against same-sex couples in this country," Obama said. "Now, I want to add we have a duty to uphold existing law, but I believe we must do so in a way that does not exacerbate old divides. And fulfilling this duty in upholding the law in no way lessens my commitment to reversing this law."
But that's not likely to happen right away. Obama and Congress are devoting most of their energy to passing a healthcare overhaul and a sweeping new energy policy. With such a busy agenda, White House and congressional leaders have been reluctant to overload the political machinery in Washington by pushing through more controversial legislation.
Obama is hoping his gay supporters will wait. But patience is starting to ebb.
"People feel they've been patient for a long time," said Leslie Calman, executive director of the National Lesbian Health Organization's Mautner Project. "They feel President Obama is on our side and want to see something concrete as soon as possible."
A Generation of Pride
Forty years ago, at 1:20 in the morning on Saturday, June 28, 1969, eight police officers burst through the double doors of the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village and announced “Police! We’re taking the place!” However, the raid did not go as planned. As one eyewitness later recalled, after years of harassment by police, “The gays had had enough.” A series of spontaneous, sometimes violent, demonstrations erupted and continued over several nights. The Stonewall Riots, as they have come to be known, marked the beginning of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement in this country.
Rev. Michael Piazza, President of Hope for Peace & Justice, and a leader in the LGBT civil rights movement for more than 20 years, recently shared his reflections on how far we have come since this watershed moment, and what we still have yet to do. We invite you to watch and listen as Rev. Piazza shares “A Generation of Pride” for the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Later when I was running a Detroit district for HRB, my offices were on an upper floor of the historic Dime Building. And as is the tradition among downtown employers with great vantage points for the fireworks, I’d host a viewing party (that I never attended) for any of my 300+ staff who wanted to come down and see the show from the comfort of the district offices. Afterwards, many of my employees would question me about why I hadn’t attended my own party. I have to admit that I’m sure it did seem strange, but I just didn’t want to be there alone, surrounded by folks who seemed to have the only thing I really wanted… Someone they cared enough about to bring. And so it wasn’t until Stephen Christopher Harris came into my life that I began think, “Maybe someday, I’ll get to see the fireworks…”
In looking at him that morning, waiting for him to reply, I could almost see into his head and see the lies he was about to tell form in his mind. At first, he denied that there was a party, and then after he admitted that there would be, he said he’d be working from another site that day and wouldn’t even be downtown. After a few more questions, he finally admitted that was a lie too, but then said he had replied to the HR email about how many tickets he wanted for friends and family, that he wanted none. We had words about it all the way to the front door, where he finally said, he’d given his tickets to Mike Fisher and another nameless friend and that he wasn’t going and that’s why he hadn’t asked me to go. So with that said, I asked again what he wanted for dinner since he’d be home after all. He said he didn’t care as he kissed me and walked out the door.
As I watched him drive away that morning, in my heart of hearts, I knew he’d lied to me… I knew he wouldn’t be home for dinner… I knew he was going to the party… and I knew he was going without me, but that he wasn’t going alone. Nevertheless, after work, I came home, I cooked, I set the table, and I waited. When he wasn’t home by seven, I called him. It went to voicemail; I sat alone at the dining room table for hours watching the ice in the water goblets melt. At ten, when the fireworks were about to begin, I went to bed. As I lay next to where he’d risen that morning, listening to the distant boom of the fireworks on the river, I cried myself to sleep as I had done for many years as a child… disappointed that yet again; another year’s chance to see something spectacular had come and gone without me. He didn’t come home that night, and that was the beginning of our first breakup.Last night, I went to bed just as I was able to again make out the muffled distant boom of the fireworks exploding over the river. In my mind’s eye, I imagined what it must have looked like to Stephen and whomever he took that year. I imagined the brilliant blaze of a thousand points of multicolored light right before his eyes, almost close enough to reach out and touch… and the scene below on the street, a crowd numbered in the hundreds of thousands all looking upwards to see that same spectacle. And then, as a silent tear escaped my heavy eyelids as if to say, “Why?” I wondered to myself, “Why is there no truth in Stephen Christopher Harris?” Finally wiping away my pitiful tears, I turned to where he once had been, to the pillow that he no longer rests his head upon and I bid him good night as I had every night from even the first night that we slept together, “Good Night Stephen, I Love You…”
*****
“Fear Eats the Soul”
Because my online friend Alex asked, here is the story of my father, William Burnette Flournoy, Sr. In the relatively few months since I came out to my father, although we’re still quite distant, he and I have grown closer than we’ve been since I was a very young boy. He’s even met the love of my life, Stephen and we all went out to dinner and had a very pleasant time; it was an evening that I could never have imagined just a year ago. In addition to my father learning many things about me including that I’m gay, I’ve learned a great deal about him that I never knew before… And since Alex asked, I’ll share it here.
Dear Dad,
Here are the things that you asked for. I have kept and cherished them for the last 20 years, and I hope that you’ll again let me keep them. They have been a tangible link to you my father.
The box included among other things, my father’s high school yearbook, his slide rule, letters and papers from his career at Ford, and even his 25th Anniversary Watch given to him the year I was born in 1964. There were also pictures from his service in WWII (another part of his story I’ll tell later…), and newspaper clippings as well as a book Ford Motor Company printed and gave to all its employees and dealers in 1953 called “Ford at Fifty” when the company celebrated 50 years in business.
Antique Fords on display at the 100th Anniversary Celebration
Summer 2003 – Ford World Headquarters
I remember feeling very strange two years later as I was answering the newspaper reporter’s questions during the interview. He had dredged up memories and feelings that I had suppressed for many years. As I noted the reporter’s impressed responses to my recollections, I realized that I had never really told anyone of my father’s career accomplishments or my pride in them. It was then that I hoped someday I might have a relationship with him again and be able to talk with him about his work, WWII, and our family. When the story was published in the newspaper, I was very proud of my father although we had not talked since he called two years before asking about his things. Here is the story that ran on the front page of the Sunday edition of The Detroit News and Free Press on Labor Day weekend 2003:
The Detroit News
Dedication, pride mark 83-year-old's love of the job
Ford worker reflects America's work ethic
By Mark Truby / The Detroit News
DEARBORN -- On Oct. 13, 1939, William Flournoy stood at the roiling cradle of the American auto industry, clutching a letter of recommendation from Cass Technical High School.
Thousands of men were lined up to apply for jobs at Ford Motor Co.'s massive River Rouge industrial complex near the end of the Great Depression. Flournoy looked like a longshot -- a 19-year-old black man with aspirations of becoming a master tool and die maker.
Upon reaching the employment office, two burly men grabbed the young man by an arm and whisked him over to a supervisor. Blacks, he was told, work in the production foundry, a hellishly hot and dirty factory where workers stirred molten steel with 20-foot rods.
"So do you want a job or don't you?" the supervisor asked.
Flournoy screwed up his courage and showed up at the foundry the next day determined to work his way to a better job and a better life. He did both. And he has never stopped. For 64 years, Flournoy has worked continuously at the Rouge complex, save for a two-year naval tour during World War II.
Today, at a wizened and slightly stooped 83 years old, he supervises a maintenance and cleanup crew at the Rouge complex. Flournoy achieved many of his dreams; a few slipped away. But in his sheer persistence, he quietly personifies the stubborn work ethic this region celebrates each year on Labor Day.
"When I came here I promised to work," Flournoy said. "So that's what I did. And whatever I did, I did to the very best of my ability. That's it. That's the end of the story."
Flournoy's story is more colorful than he would have others believe. In a career that spanned more than six decades, he not only overcame discrimination, as did many other factory workers of his time, but eventually crashed through the glass ceiling into management. While his co-workers retired one by one, he continued to work -- day after day, year after year.
For perspective, consider that Flournoy started his career while Henry Ford was still overseeing the company he founded in 1903. Today, Henry Ford's great-grandson, Bill Ford Jr., is the company's chairman and CEO.
Under Ford policies, Flournoy could have retired with full pension benefits 34 years ago. His son, William Flournoy Jr., recently reached his 30-year anniversary with Ford and is eligible for retirement.
Until recently, few of Flournoy's co-workers at the Rouge's Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant knew the breadth of his history with Ford. That began to change two years ago, when he was recognized in an employee newsletter. And earlier this year, Bill Ford called him to the stage and led a standing ovation. Flournoy, though, downplays his incredible longevity and newfound celebrity status at work with a cranky tone that says, "Of course I am still working. Why shouldn't I be?"
But as he recounted his odyssey recently, digging through a box filled with letters of commendation from Henry Ford II and his old slide rule, Flournoy's eyes lit up and the excitement returned to his voice.
'Why should I retire?'
"I didn't come here to set a record for working the longest," he said. "I just enjoyed what I did. I have never stopped enjoying what I do, so why should I retire?"
It began in the production foundry. With thick dust and hot blasts of air, it felt like working in a sandstorm. Outside the plant, another kind of storm was brewing. The United Auto Workers' effort to organize the Rouge plant led to bloody wars with Ford enforcers.
Many black workers were used as strikebreakers. Flournoy wasn't interested in taking sides. After being trapped inside the factory during one intense period of the conflict in 1941, he scaled a fence to get home to his family.
During World War II, Flournoy spent two years in Guam as a Navy machinist. Afterward, he returned to the Rouge determined to escape the foundry and become a tool and die maker. He worked during the day and attended machinist school in the evenings. One day, the plant manager called him and delivered the news: He had been promoted to tool and die maker.
Determined not to blow his opportunity, Flournoy studied tool and die making with near religious zeal. He bought every book on the trade he could find, read them aloud into a tape recorder and played the tapes back to himself over and over. He soon was certified to perform seven types of jobs and was named leader of a group of die makers.
"My attitude was to try to improve everything we did," he said. "And once I improved it, I would try to perfect it. That's how I thought I could be the best."
Asking for promotion
For a few months, Flournoy worked 10-hour shifts at the Rouge, jumped in his car and rushed to Piquette Avenue to work another eight-hour shift at General Motors. The extra money allowed him to purchase a house in the upscale Jewish enclave of Russell Park. In the 1960s, Flournoy began writing letters to Henry Ford II, asking for a promotion into management. With each letter, he detailed his accomplishments and qualifications. To his surprise, Ford wrote back and told him he would be promoted. But a problem flared up: The manager of the tool and die plant threatened to quit if a black man was made a white-collar supervisor. Ford compromised by making Flournoy a manager at the Rouge's frame plant, a move that meant saying goodbye to the tool and die factory.
"We all had a great deal of pride when he became a manager," said Flournoy's son Christopher, a district manager at H&R Block. "We would watch him get ready. He put on a freshly pressed white shirt. He wanted to look the part. Heaven forbid there was any stray wrinkles."
A few years later, Flournoy was promoted again at the frame plant, now called Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant. During the 1980s, he was in line to become a plant superintendent, but severe cutbacks at Ford killed his chances for advancement. His final assignment, as supervisor of a cleanup crew, held none of the allure of the tool and die trade, but Flournoy poured himself into the job.
"Even as a cleanup person I tried to be the best I could be," Flournoy said. "I could have retired, sure, but I still liked what I was doing. Some of the jobs you do are almost impossible, but the impossible just takes a little bit more time."
Each day, clipboard in hand, he walks the factory, directing his crew with the same serious-minded focus he has brought into the Rouge for nearly 64 years. "He's a relic around here, but he's still pretty nimble," said Salvatore Fenech, a 39-year Ford veteran who has known Flournoy for years.
For Flournoy, the end may be finally in sight. Though he's divorced from his second wife, he says he would like to spend more time with his five children and grandchildren. So this year, he says, may be his last. His family will have to see it to believe it.
"He had to fight so hard for his job, and that just made him love it even more," Christopher Flournoy said. "He has always said, 'I want to leave work for the last time being carried out.' If that's what he wants, he should have it."