An Enemy Defects

Crossposted on Pam's House Blend

Those of you who regularly read this blog know of my run-ins with National Organization For Marriage spokesman Louis J. Marinelli. For a refresher course, go here, here, here, here, and here.

Well now I can finally happily say Louis has learned his lesson. I don't know what brought him around, but Louis no longer supports the anti-gay anti-marriage equality movement not NOM. He's come around and apologized for his anti-gay activism.

Out friend Jeremy Hooper of Good As You has an interview up with Louis. Just click the clicky to read the full chat they had. Of particular relevance to me was this statement.

"Whether it is an issue of disbelief, shame or embarrassment, the one thing that is for sure is that I have come to this point after several months of an internal conflict with myself. That conflict gradually tore away at me until recently when I was able to, for the first time simply admit to myself that I do in fact support civil marriage equality for all.

While I have come to terms with this reality internally, speaking about it, even with the closest members of my family, has proven to be something difficult for me to do.

In short, if there is an issue of disbelief surrounding my newfound support for civil marriage equality, it is disbelief from those who surround me. If there is an issue of shame, it is a result of acknowledging the number of people I have targeted, hurt and oppressed. And if there is an issue of embarrassment, its roots lie in the face-to-face encounters I have had and expect to have with those with whom I once toiled over this very contentious issue."

I applaud Louis for this. It's one thing to realize that you're on the wrong side of an issue. It's one thing to accept that you have contributed vociferously to real harm done to the lives of good people. But to find the courage, the strength of character, to stand up in public and say "I was wrong and I'm sorry", well, that takes courage. Courage I'll admit I never thought Louis could have. And I am ridiculously proud he proved me wrong. I have never been more happy in my life to be mistaken about something.

So thank you Louis, not only for realizing the truth, but for having the balls to admit it publicly. Words matter, and some as anti-gay as you once were standing up in public and saying you were wrong can effect others. You might actually reach more people than we can. Any hater can ignore us telling them they're wrong, but when one of their own says "We're on the wrong side of this fight", they might just stop for a moment and listen.

Thank you Louis. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for waking up.

Message to the Tea Party - What took you so long to get angry?

Hat-Tip to Alvin at Holy Bullies & Headless Monsters. He has also cross-posted this on Pam's House Blend, where he and I both frequently crosspost. He's given me permission to share this here, as it is an utterly brilliant and brutally honest take-down of Tea Party "values".

As Alvin himself has pointed out, no one seems to know who actually authored the following message. On the off-chance that the auther stumbles across this and can prove authorship, please e-mail me at theaerie@shaw.ca and I will update this blog entry to give you your due credit.

- The brilliant anonymous message to the Tea Party in the USA;

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq .

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq .

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks. You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.

You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.

You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.

No.....You finally got mad

When a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!