Try standing shoulder to shoulder and back to back with 99 of your brothers and sisters in completely silence with your left hand over your mouth while in the other hand holding a picture of a young man who took his own life because of being bullied because he was gay.
Today I met at a corner with half of the group. None of us really knowing each other, but knew where we were supposed to meet and what we were supposed to be wearing. Eventually we figured out we were all together and our fearless leader showed up with instructions for the day. It would be a non-arrest action. Which meant, we would protest at the State Capitol in such a way as to not interfere with business as usual. Instead we would just be there to be seen. Once our little group gathered, we joined the other half of our group. Then the entire 100 of us walked together to the State Capitol. Reverent.
On the way, without any identification of who we were, some man started spouting out hate right at us! You are all going to hell! You are NOT Godly! You are vile! That cross around your neck is blasphemy! (It was just a group of us walking with no identification of who we were or what we were doing.) I think this young man forgot a verse in the bible about "Judge not, lest ye be judged." He certainly was hateful. Heck some of these people..maybe even most of them.. were straight allies! He really had no idea who we were! We just walked by quietly without talking back to the man or giving him a second glance.
Once we were across the street from the Capitol, those of us who had been trained to be arrested donned our "Add The Words" shirts (even though today was a non-arrest action). We held the picture of the young man in one hand, held the shoulder of the person infront of us and our mouth covered. We filed into the Capitol in 2 lines and then stood back to back so that the legislators could walk through the hall ways and see us..and see the you man that they might have been able to save if they would just Add The Words!
We had our own videographers there for our own protection. But there were other reporters. There were other cameras. I had no idea who they were. We had our instructions. Stand shoulder to shoulder, holding the picture up with our right hand and our left hand covering our mouth in silence. The hand over our mouth signifies that we have been silenced AND that our legislator has been silenced (since before the session, the Republicans met and were told they were not to even DISCUSS the issue of Add the Words).
As I stool there in silence. I realized a few things. It was easier to stand there with a hand over my mouth than I thought it would be (physically anyway). The energy of my community strengthened me. But I also found myself tearing up and at one point in time, I was actually sobbing. I was not crying for fear or from physical pain. I was crying for the young man whose picture I was holding. All I could do was keep saying to his face that was looking back at me (as we were walking out of the building), "I'm sorry Kiddo. I'm sorry this world was not a better place for you. I promise to do my best to make it better so your death will not have been in vain." I was crying for the young woman nick named "Turbo" from Pocatello who just took her own life due to being bullied for her sexuality. I cried as I remembered the discrimination that took place at the Junior High dance I chaperoned 10 years ago. I cried about a conversation I had just had in email with a friend of mine who said, "People don't get fired for being gay." He also said, "He doesn't understand people who are gay." What is there to understand? I cried for this ignorance that runs rampant. And yet, that is WHY I was standing there! So that we will be able to share our stories and help people understand and get these 4 words "Sexual Orientation" and "Gender Identity" added to the Idaho Human Rights Act.
Such a profound experience. There really are no words to express how I felt today. When we exited the building, we stood along the sidewalk just outside of the Capitol Building. People drove by and honked and waved in support. School busses had kids hanging out the windows cheering for us. The PEOPLE WANT THIS....soon the legislator will understand... they HAVE to. Actually, they are beginning to. The Senate President said this conversation might be worthwhile. FINALLY!!! It's some movement in the right direction! Change will and IS happening. We just have to keep the momentum going. We have to stay visible. We have to keep going back and back and back again.
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