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Thursday, November 13, 2008


In Honor Of Our Veterans


Gina Foringer lives in Baltimore MD with her partner of 21 years and daughter. She served in the US Army during Operation Continue Hope in Somalia, Africa. She then became an environmental contractor supporting the US Army Environmental Programs. She is now a corporate executive for a publicly traded company.

I am humbly writing to you from the perspective of a decorated Army veteran who has served our nation to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America. I committed myself to service upon commission in 1990, again at each promotion, and most actively in 1993 during Operation Continue Hope in Somalia. While commanding a convoy through the countryside, my truck ran over a command-detonated landmine. I was blessed to live through that harrowing experience, and received a Purple Heart for combat-related injuries from that day.

During my service in Somalia, my partner of now over 20 years was at home anxiously awaiting word of my safety and well-being. Despite the fact that she was all but invisible to the Army during my service, she - like most military spouses - has been my rock, helping me through the difficult decision to leave the military and my recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

We left Virginia in 2005 because of a particularly egregious piece of legislation that limited legal relationships between domestic partners (HB 751). Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment - one of the most restrictive in the U.S. - banning not only marriage for same-sex couples, but any legal relationship that afforded the benefits of marriage. We chose Maryland and Baltimore because of the state's commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunities to all residents. We're active in a downtown church, and our six-year-old daughter attends The Mt. Washington Elementary School, a public school in the city.

Today, I ask for your support of Equality Maryland as they work towards justice and fairness for all people. They are fighting the good fight on the side of love to protect families like mine across the state. I believe in their mission, contribute regularly, and ask you to do the same.

In the wake of the devastating losses at the ballot across the country for our community, it’s more important than ever for us to commit to forward movement here in Maryland. That’s why I testified for the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act this year in Annapolis, and will be attending Lobby Day on February 2, 2009. Most importantly, I am financially committed to supporting Equality Maryland in these tough economic times so they may continue to advocate for my family, and for yours.

Thank you for considering my point of view and for your welcome to families like ours who chose to reside in Maryland.

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Thursday, November 6, 2008


The Day After


Steve Haddad has been a member of Equality Maryland’s Board of Directors for more than three years. He runs his own consulting practice specializing in nonprofit fundraising and management (haddadsolutions@comcast.net). Steve is also a musician, writer, and meditation teacher. He lives in Baltimore City.

Yesterday morning, the day after the election, my white, Jewish, 66-year old mother eased her car into a filling station just outside her home in Howard County. As she finished gassing up her tank, a young, African-American man - who had noticed the Obama sticker on her car’s rear bumper - awkwardly approached my mom and said to her, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for supporting Obama. It really meant a lot.”

Of course, my mother wouldn’t have voted for Senator McCain if he was the last self-proclaimed maverick on the planet, but the power of that moment was palpable.

In spite of the perception that America “wasn’t ready” for a Black president, forty-three percent of White voters enthusiastically cast their ballots on Tuesday for Obama, who will try to provide real leadership to our country after an extraordinarily painful and regressive eight years. As a result, the United States has become the first majority-white democracy ever to elect a Black leader. Apparently, the pundits were wrong. We ARE ready.

The idea that in a few short months we will witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama is still sinking in for me, as it likely is for millions of other Americans. Obama’s win arose from a confluence of factors, including an historically unpopular sitting President, an economy on the verge of implosion, and last but certainly not least, his clear and compelling case for the change we need to see in this country.

But his victory would not have been realized had it not been for the hard-fought civil rights battles waged by African-Americans over the past two centuries. His road to the White House was paved through the abolition of slavery, the passage of the 15th amendment, and the Voters Rights Act of 1965. His viability was made possible by those who came before him, including Hiram Revels, Shirley Chisholm, and John Lewis. Tuesday night was a watershed moment in our nation’s history, and while racism hasn’t been eradicated in this country by any stretch of the imagination, Obama’s election serves as a powerful symbol of how far we have come as Americans.

But if you were looking for a reminder of how far we still have to go, you didn’t have to wait very long. In California, a mean-spirited ballot initiative will likely result in writing discrimination into that state’s constitution, barring marriage for same-sex couples. Similar measures passed in Florida and Arizona, while Arkansas voters passed a law that prohibits unmarried couples from adopting children.

The passage of Proposition 8 in California, which is not yet final but likely imminent, was particularly disheartening, since it came on the heels of that state’s high court decision this spring in support of full marriage equality. But it was also noteworthy because it happened in California, where the state awarded its electoral votes to Senator Obama without breaking a sweat, pushing him past the 270-vote threshold on Tuesday night and into the winners’ circle. More than seventy percent of Black voters in the Golden State cast ballots denying equal protection under the law for same-sex couples. They, along with half of the state’s White voters, should be ashamed of themselves. And President-Elect Obama, who opposed Proposition 8 but did so in a nuanced and quiet fashion, should have done more to encourage fairness and equality for all California residents. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been the most politically viable stance for him to take in the months leading up to his election, but it would have been principled and it would have been right.

In the coming months, President-Elect Obama will confront a myriad of challenges facing our country, including a failing health care system, a $500 billion national deficit, the mortgage crisis, and the somehow-forgotten war in Iraq. While it may be presumptuous to do so, I’d like to call on our next president to assume a more active and vigorous role in California’s struggle for LGBT equality.

Barack Obama would not have risen to the presidency of the most powerful country on earth if it weren’t for those who came before him and believed in equality. Today, many political observers say that America “isn’t ready” for marriage equality, but Obama knows better. We can’t decide to fight for equality just when it’s easy or convenient. We have to work for it everywhere, for everyone, and at every moment.

After my mother told me the story about her encounter at the gas station, I wondered to myself how that young man must have felt watching the election results come in on Tuesday. It must have made him feel a little more real. A little more whole.

And I wondered how he might have voted on Proposition 8 if he lived in California

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