Here’s me with my favorite comic, Wanda Sykes, in Sacramento on Monday. We did the big marriage equality rally and it was so amazing. Love her!!!
Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Wanda Sykes!
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Personal reflections on a historic moment
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009From USA Today:
I’m thrilled about having Barack Obama as president. It feels like a personal triumph, as I was fortunate enough to have served as a campaign surrogate (hosting events to promote the candidate) during this incredibly exciting year.
My parents have never voted, and they always taught me that this was not our country because we are not white. It was very disheartening to grow up that way. It made me feel like I could never have any choice or say or control over anything. Going from that state of mind – that feeling of isolation and powerlessness within my own minority status, feeling like a prisoner of my skin color – to becoming the president-picker is a huge and wonderful journey.
As a campaign surrogate, I gave talks about what Obama meant to me and answered questions about his policies. This was easy to do, as Obama meant a lot to me because he represents inclusion. He is one of us – a minority – so getting to represent him was thrilling because I felt like I was standing up for myself.
I got talked into it by Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam, House and The Namesake), a longtime Obama supporter. I was originally a Hillary Clinton supporter, but when Kal offered me an autographed photo of Hugh Laurie, of House fame, I changed camps immediately.
I am really glad to have Obama in the White House, even though I still haven’t gotten my autographed photo of Hugh Laurie.
What does Barack Obama’s election mean to you?
Prop 8 The Musical
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008This is a video I shot last week with some old friends. Jack Black was once a guest star on “All American Girl!” And Kathy Najimy was in “Bam Bam and Celeste” as well as “Two Sisters.” I love the song and the message. Enjoy!
Mormons
Thursday, November 20th, 2008Here is the new video for my protest song! My husband Al directed it and we shot it all on Monday. Ian Harvie and Judd Minter play the Mormons and I think they look hot, and the whole idea behind me playing guitar had to do with that green dress. I thought it looked perfect with the guitar slung across my back, like a very large backwards facing necklace. Anyway, enjoy!
A Protest Song
Monday, November 17th, 2008I spent the weekend in Cleveland and Cincinnati and it was amazing. Even though some devastating things happened on November 4th, Barack Obama still won, and as I watched the election along with everyone else that day, when I saw that Ohio went for Obama, I said “Yes!!! We got this!!†so I wanted to thank Ohio for this great victory. They had a lot to do with it.
In Cleveland, Jessie (our killer merchandise diva with the fuschia locks – if you’ve been to one of the “Beautiful†shows – you know her) and I visited the rock and roll hall of fame, because since I am a musician, it is just one of those things that musicians do. Oh, you didn’t know I was a musician? Yeah. I have been a musician for about 3 days. Well, actually, I got an electric guitar a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t done much except pose with it in front of the mirror. I didn’t actually start playing til Thursday. Maybe that should be my band name, Til Thursday. We are kind of like Til Tuesday, but just later in the week.
I was asked to perform at an anti-Prop 8 rally on the big international day of protest – November 15 – in Cincinnati, and I thought I should write a protest song for it. The fact that there is now a ban on gay marriage just kills my spirit, hurts my heart. I was deputized as a marriage commissioner in San Francisco in June, and I got to marry a gay couple and a lesbian couple at city hall, and it was such an honor and a blessing, and we all wept through the entire thing. It was one of the greatest things I had ever experienced, and the fact that the state considers those unions now against the law just destroyed me emotionally. Momentarily, I lost my will to fight, and I desperately wanted to get it back, and music was the only answer.
I got an acoustic guitar on Wednesday, wrote the song on Thursday, with help from my brother in law, Eric, who is a musician – cuz that is who musicians hang out with, other musicians. Then I practiced for about 32 hours in a row to get ready for Saturday. On the plane I did air guitar like strumming and made the chords with my hands. In my hotel room I played the song so many times I am surprised I was not bodily removed from the premises. I tried it out on the Cleveland crowd on Friday, and they seemed to think it was ok, so I was ready for my big protest singing debut at the rally.
We drove from Cleveland to Cincinnati early on Saturday morning as icy rain pelted down all of I-71, and Liam Sullivan (Kelly) pointed out a sign next to the highway. It said “HELL IS REAL”. I guess it must have been nearby, but the sign didn’t say what exit. If it is real, then they should have some more detailed directions!
We got to city hall and there were hundreds of people there, which is a lot considering that it was freezing cold and fucking raining!!! But tons of people were there with signs and everything. I stood on the steps of city hall and I got out my guitar. My hands were shaking from the cold and also the sheer nerves of having to play guitar in front of people! It was scary. I am not one for stage fright. I have been a standup comic for almost a quarter of a century (gasp), and I am real blasé about the whole thing. Talking in front of people is no big deal. I’m fucking talking, there are people there. Whatever. Public speaking is supposed to be scary, but I have been doing it longer than I have not been doing it, so I am used to it and I just take it for granted like the fucking ingrate that I am. But playing music, that is something else. Wow – I was really nervous. I was like my big dog Ralph when he goes to the vet, all shaking and salivating and trying to back out the front door, like no one will notice if he is walking backwards because he is still looking everyone in the eye, or the crotch, or whatever is dog level. I wanted to put my snout in someone’s elbow, like if I couldn’t see it, it wasn’t happening.
They introduced me, and I fumbled with the guitar for a bit. I got all scared that somewhere between me taking it out of my gig bag – yeah that is a musician’s term for a bag that you bring to the gig – your gig bag – I got all worried that in the few seconds that it was out of the gig bag, that it would go out of tune. I managed to get the strap and get the guitar in front of me semi-correctly. Then, I started to play, and miraculously, the song I wrote just came out of me and I know I messed up some chords but nobody seemed to mind much. It was the spirit of the thing, you know? At the end everyone was singing the chorus with me “Shove Proposition 8 up their ass!†and it felt really great.
I was so proud that so many turned out to protest the gay marriage ban in California – in Ohio!!! That so many all around the world stood up for California that day was overwhelming. I was getting texts from friends all over the place with pictures and reports from their local rallies. I’m gonna write “this machine kills fascists†on the back of my blackberry.
Photos by Amanda Ralston. Thanks Amanda!
Video by missronierho:
Join the Impact: Nationwide Protests Against Prop 8 on Saturday!
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Hey everyone! I’m going to be in Cincinnati this Saturday for my “Beautiful” show at Taft Theatre, but beforehand I’m gonna be at this rally at City Hall, premiering my “Protest Prop 8″ song, playing guitar and everything, so please come down! It’s gonna be awesome.
These rallies are NATIONWIDE on Saturday at 1:30pm EST, so find the information for your city here. We gotta stick it to the Mormons and the other fundamentalists who want us to be second class citizens!!
Cincinnati, Ohio — A protest in favor of equal marriage will occur at Cincinnati’s City Hall on Saturday, November 15 at 1:30p.m. Local students, activists, and community members lead this event as part of a day of national protests in reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in California, re-banning equal marriage in that state.
The local movement is being organized by Cameron Tolle, a junior at Xavier University and Vice President of the Xavier LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, queer/questioning) Alliance, with the assistance of students from the University of Cincinnati and Miami University, along with several community members. Organizers state that the goal is not to overturn Proposition 8, but to create a national movement and create awareness for the effects that anti-gay legislation has on the local community. The protest will occur in conjunction with other groups from around the country at the same time as part of an initiative launched by http://JoinTheImpact.com; local organizers are in contact with many of these other coalitions as a way of building unity. In the first two days of organization, almost 300 people have stated they will be in attendance; 500 people are expected to attend the event.
“Last week, voters in California, Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas allowed hate to infiltrate into our political system and classified the LGBTQ community as second-class citizens,” Tolle says. “We cannot sit back and watch this happen. We have to let our communities know that we oppose hatred under the law in all forms. In Ohio, we live in a state that has already declared inequality by banning equal marriage and failing to include crimes against LGBTQ individuals under state hate crime laws. We cannot let this hatred under the law perpetuate any further.”
JoinTheImpact.com is a national initiative that was created in reaction to the anger felt by many who believe in equal marriage rights after the passage of California’s Proposition 8. It is a loose coalition of activists and organizations who seek to bring positive change in the fight for equality. The movement, less than a week old, is drawing hundreds of thousands of hits a day to its websites. Almost 40 localities have announced protests in correlation with the initiative. More are expected to join in the coming week.
According to the website, the goal is to “come together for debate, for public recognition, and for LOVE! … [to] move as one full unit, on the same day, at the same hour, and…show the United States of America that we too are UNITED CITIZENS EQUAL [sic] IN MIND, BODY, SPIRIT AND DESERVING OF FULL EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW.”
Local organizers are hopeful that the protest will spur discussion and movement towards positive change in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana region. Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana all currently have laws banning equal marriage rights; Ohio and Kentucky have constitutional amendments, passed by voters in 2004, to the same effect.
Keep your Bullshit out of my Sky
Friday, November 7th, 2008The day before Prop 8 passed, someone had paid to have “Yes on 8†written across the sky above West Hollywood.
This is so fucking stupid and just the kind of shit you would expect from those idiots. They are just assholes enough to pay a lot of money to pollute the environment both literally and figuratively, to have someone go up there in a little plane and fart smoke all over the place just to prove a point – that they are ignorant, bigoted, controlling, wrong-minded and fear driven lunatics who have no concept of equality, love, compassion or freedom – and on top of that – they are proud of it!
What is great is that the beautiful fall breezes of southern California blew the message away almost instantly, as if God was trying to tell them something. Like “don’t fuck up my gorgeous sky with your bullshit.” Like that.
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