What matters to me, part 1

Growing up in a liberal, all female, middle class household inside the Beltway certainly has influenced why I was originally attracted to the Democrat party and registered myself as a Democrat the day I turned 18. I've never understood Conservative views or the Republican party, but could respect the fact that some of my family and friends did. I was always hurt and offended when those family members and friends would laugh at and brush off my opinions on what was going on in my hometown and the state of the world, but in order to keep the peace I usually let these comments and offenses go without much of a rebuttal. Still I felt angry that my way of life and principles were something that was humorous to them yet when I made light of their political views and morals I was sinful, hateful, young and stupid, and ignorant. I took that anger and used it to motivate me into the offices of Fairfax County Democrat Committee when I was 14 and I've volunteered for the Democrat party in every election since then. I'm sure I don't need to explain the disappointment I felt in 2000 and 2004, but suffice to say I was worried about the direction our country was headed in as there were so many changes politically and socially speaking. This is why I've chosen to write my experiences in my blog now. I know I probably won't change anyone's mind, but I want you all to know where I am coming from and why I feel Barak Obama is the best choice for President of the United States of America.

As a child my family considered our faith to be Catholic, however, my mother and grandmother always made sure I understood and learned about other religions and cultures and their rites and practices. I went to Catholic high school and then a Presbyterian college and now consider myself to be a Unitarian. I have not always been a deeply religious person, but have always kept a sense of spirituality and consider myself to be very in touch with God. I am very passionate about my religious views and the importance of and hypocrisy of religion. It is for this reason that I believe there must be a separation of church and state for any government to properly function. It scares me to think that Sarah Palin and John McCain do not believe this. I know that the ideals and morals that drive both of them are not what drives me and millions of other Americans. I believe in rights for all people no matter their sex, sexuality, religion, race, or economic status. I believe in and fight for a woman's right to choose and I certainly feel like the Pro-Life movement is a major violation of the separation of church and state. The job of a president should be to serve all the people not just a certain group who happen to share the same faith. I was really disgruntled to see that this year there was a debate held by a Pastor catering to the evangelical vote. I'm sure this made some people happy but to me it was a shining example of how prominent Christianity is in our government. I don't think a Imam, Pandit, Swami, or Brahma would have been given the same opportunity for a debate and I'm certain an Atheist or Pagan would've been denied immediately. Since all these religions and many more make up the fabric of America we have to learn as a country to keep religion in our homes and out of our local, state, and national political offices.

Love is another issue that should be kept in our homes and out of our government. I have always believed that a person has the right to love and marry anyone they want. I do not believe that gay marriage will destroy marriage in any way, shape, or form and I do not believe that legalizing it will lead to legal polygamy or interspecies marriages. In fact, I find those speculations highly offensive. Being gay is part of the human condition it is not a choice and should not be treated like it is some sort of fetish or phase. This is why I can't understand how and why Republicans feel so strongly against gay marriage or civil unions. My family has had to struggle with this prejudice for almost 2 decades now. I have a cousin in Texas who has been in love with her female partner for almost 20 years. They have always been faithful to one and other and are true soul mates. Even the most conservative members of my family consider her partner to be more like her wife and have accepted her into our family. 10 years ago my cousin was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had to endure grueling medical treatment. During this time her partner was either forced to wait outside for news as she was not considered to be family or was forced to lie and say she was a sister in order to be by the side of her best friend and spouse. No one should ever have to go through something like this. This is not only demeaning and cruel it's segregation.

As most of you know I consider myself to be a bisexual and thus a part of the LGBT community. Yes, I married a wonderful man and we are in a committed monogamous relationship. No, that doesn't mean that I'm no longer bisexual. When we got married I was able to bring our wedding certificate to the Social Security office and in about an hour I was able to change my name to whatever I wanted free of charge. Our good friends who were married a year before us, who happen to be lesbians, were still dealing with the process of changing one of their names. They had to go to court and pay upwards of $500 for something I got to do absolutely free. How is this fair? Why should our government be able to come in and dictate which people are able to get married, or adopt children, or simply visit their life partner in a hospital?

I've made it no secret that I want to be a mother someday. I can only hope and pray that someday we will conceive a child of our own, but dealing with infertility there's a chance we might have to consider adoption. Knowing that the state of Florida requires that you report whether or not you consider yourself gay or bisexual could jeopardize the chances we have of adopting. I can only hope that if we choose to adopt we will have people in office that truly understand what family means and how important having good parents, regardless of their sexuality, is essential to healthy development for any and all children.

I know that someday I will make a good mother. We will teach our children love and tolerance and not feed them hateful ideals and prejudices. We will expose them to a variety of ideas, cultures, and beliefs to give them a true perspective of our world so they can not only be good Americans, but good citizens of the world. We will give our children respect and understanding and share our experiences and mistakes with them so they can make informed choices and decisions. It really scares me to think that Sarah Palin has stated that she would make her daughters carry a child that was the result of rape or incest (not to mention the fact that she made it so that victims of rape had to pay for their own rape kits and processing). I'm not going to attack her for being a mother since this is something I desire so strongly and I can commend her on having 5 children, but I will say that being a mother and actually parenting your children are 2 different things. What kind of mother endangers her child by going to speak at a summit and taking an 8 hour flight back home while in leaking amniotic fluid? What kind of mother returns to work 3 days after giving birth? I've known women who had little to no maternity leave at all but they used up their sick leave or filed for FMLA time off or quit because they knew the importance and bonding that must happen in those precious first months. Does Sarah Palin even have an active parenting relationship with her children? How much support or guidance did she give Bristol while she was growing up? Or was her career more important? Obviously her career and becoming a running mate for John McCain were more important to her then being a mother to Trig.

I know this is running long and I haven't even touched on health care, the economy, foreign affairs, women's rights, animal rights, the environment, education, or poverty. I plan on doing at least 2 more of these but it will all be based on the kind of feedback I get so please let me know what you're thinking. Thanks for reading and I hope you are all taking this election very seriously. For those of you in Florida who haven't already registered to vote please remember that it's not too late to do so but you've got to do it before October 5th! For those of you elsewhere in the country or unable to make it out to register or ask for an absentee ballot Barak Obama's campaign has put together this handy website :
Peace!
xoxo