Dear Greg, Amanda, and Jamie,
I had some thoughts that I wanted to share and didn’t know what list best to send them to, but I figured I would share them with you (and you are free to pass them along if you like).
Today, we as a community, as people who believe in freedom, liberty and justice for all, we are in pain. We are angry. And we have every right to be.
And yet, I have hope. I have hope because of what I have seen in the 12 years since I’ve come out. I have hope because when I went to college we were lucky to get 25 people out to a rally, whereas you were able to get out 200 people to rally against hate and discrimination. I have hope because I think that Prop 8 may have done more good for us as a community than anything since Stonewall. I say this because so many people have trained and worked and struggled in the past few months to defeat Prop 8, but they not only fought Prop 8, they gained skills, they strengthened their resolve, they saw the issues more clearly, and now we have all seen how much we can achieve and how if we just work a little harder and a little longer we will reach equality. There are hundreds of students on this campus and thousands across California who are poised to become the next generation of leaders in this struggle. Perhaps this is what we needed to make us realize what it is we need to do. Of course I wish things had gone the other way, but just know that so many people will be able to work so much harder the next time because of what you and other leaders on campus have done.
And we must keep fighting. We must keep fighting, not merely for ourselves, our friends, our family. We must keep fighting to give hope to the closeted kid in Tennessee or Montana who is unable to be themself. It is for them that this fight is truly for, to show them that they may step out of the closet, that there are people who value them, who are ready to welcome them fully. As someone said today, we must spread love, to all ends of this nation, to all ends of the earth, so that not only may that kid come out of the closet, but may that kid not have a closet to stand in.
Keep up the fight, and we WILL win the war.
With great admiration and respect for all the leaders of the No on 8 campaign,
Noah
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Noah Branman
Director of Special Projects/Camp Kesem Director
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