Or, if you're too bashful to march and wave on the street you can march into the privacy of the voting booth and mark your ballot for gay and gay-friendly candidates. If you don't live in their districts there are campaign website links at the end of this article where you can get information to help candidates of your choice and find out whose district you do live in. Or Google your own state political party for contact information.
What I'm talking about is Election Day, November 7, 2006.
Though I write of candidates specific to Oklahoma, I think we can apply our gay pride citizenship equally to all 50 states.
Oklahoma has never had so many openly-gay and gay-respectful candidates! Now it's up to us voters to put them in office where they can do the most good for US and the USA!
We already have Al McAffrey (HD 88) elected. All he needs now is to take the oath of office. We have the potential of electing Andrew Rice, Carol Ruth, Sue Barton, Jennifer Seal, Pat Potts, Alan Gentges, Dana Orwig, David Hunter, David Prater, Mike Workman, and re-electing, Jim Roth.
In particular, I want to emphasize the importance of Mr. Roth being returned to the Oklahoma County Commissioner's office, District 1.
Mr. Roth's campaign is not assuming an easy re-election. His campaign is working just as hard the second time, as it did the first time, striving for a 70% majority vote.
In effect, such a landslide will be like re-electing ourselves as gay people, proving to the desperate homophobes that candidates of Mr. Roth's character and significance MUST be re-elected with as strong a majority as we can muster.
Mr. Roth's re-election will prove to straight Oklahoma that we gay people are a force to deal with, that we are players at the table with chips and cards of our own to play.
Re-electing proven competent people who happen to be gay or gay-friendly is an event of lasting importance that no homophobe can dismiss as a frivolous, pleasure-seeking action with no serious consequences. We can disprove the stereotypes. Electing people who support OUR equality is a political statement about US!
At the Millennium President Clinton used the metaphor of building bridges to the 21st Century. Jim Roth's first election was our gay equality bridge. That bridge needs an extension now to the next decade.
The deadline for registration in Oklahoma is Friday, October 13th. Again just Google for your state by typing in "voter registration" and your own state name. It's easy to do. All public libraries have the forms as well as city offices. If you've moved or changed names you will need to re-register with the new information.
Oklahoma has a competent, accurate voting system so take advantage of this opportunity to vote and say something positive about yourself.
Find links to some progressive Oklahoma candidates here: http://okstonewall.org/forums/index.php?topic=959.0
