Equality for all.

Equality. Say it out loud. Seriously, don't just read it in your head. Say it out loud. Let it roll off your tongue slowly, almost sensuously. Equality.

It's an intoxicating notion, to be sure. The idea that we're all given the respect and the rights we deserve. A Utopian society where every citizen is granted the same base human rights as their neighbor. It's intoxicating, and completely and utterly fantastic. But right now, it's just that- a fantasy.

We have the power to change that, though.

This struggle is about more than just marriage rights for LGBQT individuals. It goes beyond me wanting to be able to marry the woman of my dreams. It goes beyond watching my best friend, who came out at the tender age of 11, be able to be with his partner and be granted every right his straight friends and family have. It goes beyond my aunt having been able to make inclusive retirement and life plan with her then-partner of decades.

It boils down to the ineffable right that every citizen should have to be happy, to be free to plan comfortably for the future, to be able to love whom they choose and create the family they so deeply desire.

Gay marriage will not rend the pillars of society asunder; quite the contrary, it will reinforce them and build them up. We as a people became stronger when we abolished slavery. We as a people became stronger when we abolished segregation. We the people became stronger when we encouraged both a woman and a black man to run for president. We the people became stronger when we abolished the don't ask, don't tell policy in our armed forces.

We the people will become stronger when we grant the LGBQT community the same rights that their heterosexual loved ones have, because we will be empowering our citizens. Our government will be saying "Here, have this. Live this. Live your lives the way you please, which is the philosophy our country was founded on."

By "radically" changing the definitions of a legal family, we will be simply returning to our basic roots as a people.

We need this advancement. It's just the reform that our country needs. A reminder that the roots we come from are the ever-lasting search for the ability to reach for the stars, or in some cases, the bouquets.

The echo of a million voices needs to be heard.

I haven't blogged in quite some time.  I worked hard to build a network of followers, of friendly faces, of people I care about and who care about me, and I've left without a word.

Life and love have been difficult.  Through my own drama and tragedy, I have been helping to mitigate the dramas and tragedies of a few of the people I love the most, in any way I can.  March has, as is tradition, brought challenges that have tested even the strongest of our reserves.

Today I come to you and I'm begging you - even though it seems as though I've abandoned  you, stand with me.

KB at Wanderlust, a beautiful soul with two amazing children and the fortitude of a giant, needs our help.  Her life has been it's own horror film, full of the horrors that we naturally recoil from.  Child pornography and exploitation, a secret life being lived right next to her, unusual weapons hidden but in plain sight, abuse, threats, and the discovery of chilling "horror porn" being used for sexual purposes by someone she was most intimate with.  These are the things that can choke out a person's light.  They can leave a hollow and empty shell, and that's under the best of circumstances where that person is allowed to leave the scene of the crimes.  KB hasn't been able to.  She stays there, day after day, providing as much stability as she could for her children, the innocents caught in the plot of this twisted screen play that has become her life.

Please go, read her posts, offer your support, retweet, repost, share, text, pull strings, act on ideas... do what you can to help her.  There are hundreds of other women and children that become statistics, but you KNOW about this family, and you have the opportunity to help.  You have the opportunity to lend your voice to hers, to help her be heard, and to help her remain safe.  Maybe in the movement we create, we can establish a protocol, a guideline, a way to keep helping, so that we can pare those numbers down, one by one. The KB spouse and children protection act, or something equally as hopeful sounding.

http://www.wanderlustlust.com - it's not easy reading, but I encourage you to keep going.  Know the extent to which she is trapped.  Let it sink in that it could be you or me.  Help me help her.

Collectively, as humans, we seem to have forgotten the definition of the term "Human Rights".

An Iranian woman, mother of two, is to be stoned to death.  For adultery.  For loving someone other than her husband.

She was flogged publicly in front of her children, and now she's to be murdered slowly in front of them.

This is a harsh but truthful description.  Does it make you cringe?  Turn away?  Does it make you sad?

I hope it does.  It should.  Because if it does, then it means that you'll take action.

Read Jessica Gottlieb's post that outlines how you can contact your local government officials, and gives a better overview of the situation, including links to CNN, as well as an interview done with her son.

Tell your friends, your family, and post on Facebook.

Tweet the UN:  @UN when will you intercede on behalf of #Ashtiani? http://bit.ly/bCeWGe 


GET INVOLVED.  THIS IS A HUMAN ISSUE.