OK . . . I’m off the pot - Libby Post - timesunion.com - Albany NY

OK . . . I’m off the pot - Libby Post - timesunion.com - Albany NY: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

by Libby Post

I know I’ve been absent for the past two months and my apologies to folks whose comments “lingered” as one of my loyal readers wrote (he also told me in no uncertain terms to shit or get off the pot–so . . .).

To tell you all the truth, I’ve had a challenging time at work the past few months. Suffice it to say this was the year of the angry voter who made it his or her business to hurt local libraries by just saying NO to any type of tax increase regardless of its merits.

You know the Tea Partiers have caught a wave–albeit hopefully a short one–when mom and apple pie initiaitves, such as supporting libraries, go down to defeat.

But, it’s a new year and my #1, and I really mean this, my #1 resolution is getting back to writing on LGBT issues both here and at WAMC. As hokey or perhaps as bizarre as this might seem, the more engaged I am in LGBT issues the more successful I’ve been professionally–so, in order to keep the lights on and a new Medi-Fast order on my table, I’m back.

The end of 2010 was an interesting one for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been repealed. While it is the only major legislative victory on LGBT rights for the Obama Administration, it is a major accomplishment for the community. It’s time for our country to take this giant leap forward and stop falling prey to the hysteria of the Radical Christian Right and its homophobia.

The troops themselves as well as many of the military’s leadership say the repeal will not impact unit cohesion. When the bombs are bursting and the bullets flying, I doubt anyone is thinking about whether the person you’re working with to the defend the county is gay or straight. You just want to make sure they’re on our side. And, quite honestly, those who have enlisted to serve their country from the LGBT community didn’t do it lightly–they knew the odds they were up against because they enlisted while DADT was in effect . They enlisted anyway because they felt an obligation–an obligation to serve their country.

In this day and age, if these brave folks have resolved to fight for our country, they deserve the thanks of a grateful nation not the jeers and tirades of ignorant ingrates.

2011 promises to be an interesting one for the LGBT community. The Republicans have taken the majority in the House of Representatives nationally and in the Senate in New York State. I don’t expect any movement on any of our legislative issues nationally. But I do expect for the Republicans in the State Senate, with their razor thin majority, to put the issue of same-sex marriage to rest–in other words, I think there’s a good chance of it passing this year.

After all, the majority of New Yorkers now support it. Why keep it hanging over the heads of the State Senate. According to Ross Levi, the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Executive Director, Dean Skelos, the Senate’s new majority leader, will let marriage equality come to the floor of the Senate and there will be no party line vote.

In other words, the GOP majority in the State Senate has recognized that opposing marriage equality is a losing issue for them and it should be considered a vote of conscience–just as reproductive choice and the death penalty are considered.

With the Pride Agenda’s successful work of defeating two of the anti-marriage equality votes in the Senate–one from each side of the aisle–Skelos sees the writing on the wall. Marriage equality isn’t an issue he needs to expend major political capital on anymore. He will let the chips fall where they may. If that’s the case, we just might be standing under a chuppah sometime soon.

And after all, if the Republicans want to help the economy legalizing our nuptials will, according to the State Comptroller’s offices, pump $184 million into the state’s economy. Not enough to turn our financial crisis around but good enough to bolster some small businesses throughout New York.