Vote, Vote, Vote

When my partner and I give speeches at our LGBT Wedding Expos... we often talk with couples about how, at times, we each feel powerless to enact real change.  Marriage rights has seemed elusive - for example, being enacted in a particular area such as California in 2008, only to be  overridden just a few short months later.

But there's good news:  I can say definitively, having been immersed in the gay wedding issue for over 12 years now, that marriage & family rights have in fact progressed!  -And by leaps & bounds!  It is getting better, and more and more people are counting it as a civil rights issue - which tells us that the concept is becoming more & more legitimized throughout our society.

I can also say that the feeling of powerlessness is just a perception.  Group dynamics can of course seem complex, but if we each do our part on an individual level... it does become possible to enact real & lasting change.

A prime example is our opportunity to vote.  And while one single ballot may not seem that important - well, I believe that is simply untrue.  It is in fact the case that each and every vote matters.  And perhaps even more important is the choice we make to take part in the political process:  voting rights have not always been afforded to the common people, nor to women, nor to African Americans, nor to the specially abled.  It's good to remember these historical facts, because they too remind us of the importance and sacredness of the opportunity that is before us tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 6th.

There are such important issues on the ballot tomorrow.  Measures in states like Washington and Maryland, regarding marriage rights for the LGBT minority.  Choices between congressional candidates, whose place in Washington DC will directly affect just how much movement we see in the next few years on matters that affect each of us, every day.  And of course our choice for President - there is such a vast difference between the views of President Obama and Mr. Romney.  I encourage each of us to make it the utmost priority to get out the vote tomorrow.  It matters.