"The Truth Today..."

I have two new heroes of the day today... both are great examples of truth and courage in action.

First in Dallas, Texas, Judge Tonya Parker who said during a February 21st meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, that while she has the power to perform legal marriage ceremonies in her court, she will not.

“I use it as my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage inequality in this state because I feel like I have to tell them why I’m turning them away,” Parker said.

“So I usually will offer them something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality, and until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people.’ And it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it."

"I do not perform [marriages] because it is not an equal application of the law. Period,"

And then, in New Mexico, Antonio Darden is a top Santa Fe hair stylist who is waging his own boycott of sorts: He is denying service to the governor of New Mexico because she opposes gay marriage.

Darden, who has been with his partner for 15 years, said he made his views clear the last time Gov. Susana Martinez's office called to make an appointment:

"The governor's aides called not too long ago wanting another appointment to come in... Because of her stances and her views on this, I told her aides, 'no.' They called the next day asking if I'd changed my mind about taking the governor in, and I said 'no' again."

And this is why this is important...

We (GLBT people) need to use all of our powers, no matter how small or insignificant they might seem to be to influence people and help them to understand the unfairness of our lack of equality under the law.  Things will only truly get better for GLBT people when we have the full equality and recognition under the law which we are entitled to.  And we need to do so not just in some places, but everywhere across the land and around the world.  It's time to stand up and be counted and to demand our equal rights in society and under the law.

"Fear Eats the Soul"