We must all hang together...

...as Benjamin Franklin once said, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately. Antigay priests and ministers must not be the only religious figures with a say in gay rights: It’s time for pro-gay religious leaders and our secular allies to present a united front.
By Archbishop Bruce J. Simpson, Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved

With the election of Bush to the presidency on November 2, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders need to take a long, hard, deep look at ourselves as a community and at the dark forces that are arrayed against us. We need to come together in new and powerful ways to counter the alliance presented by our enemies. And our religious leaders must be among the first to call for unity.

The unification of American conservatism entities---fueled by the religious fervor of various denominations, especially the Roman Catholic Church---has paved the way for the unthinkable: The lines between church and state were not only blurred in this election, they were eliminated. In church after church, parish leaders were openly telling their followers whom not to vote for, and with impunity. While the names of the presidential candidates were not actually used in most churches---thus fulfilling the letter of federal law, which forbids tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or rejecting particular candidates---they didn’t have to be.

The threat was simple: You can’t consider yourself to be a good if you vote for a candidate for public office who supports a woman’s right to choose, or equal rights for homosexuals, or stem cell research.

http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/927/927_simpson_election.asp

I am absolutely terrified about what the next four years are going to bring, not just for those of us in the LGBT community, but for America and the world.

But I am also energized more than I would have thought, and ready to do whatever is in my meager power to fight the coming onslaught. I don't have much of a support system in my "real" life, but hopefully I can develop mutual friendships and alliances in forums such as these, so that we can stand strong in this time, when strength is going to be as vital as it will be hard to find.