Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those
who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain
in limbo--a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no
friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth
of a nation supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of
children--and no offense meant to the stereotypes. But today, the black
community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators
and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our
leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can
command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young
people in our own community who need both examples and hope.
The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content
to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept
pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing. They must be--for the
good of all of us--independent, unbought. The anger and the
frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and
friends can't feel that anger and frustration. They can sense it in us,
but they can't feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is
known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out
and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope--and
our friends can't fulfill that.
I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they
gay, be they seniors, be they black looking for an almost-impossible
job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in
a tongue that's foreign to them. I personally will never forget that
people are more important than buildings. I use the word "I" because
I'm proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers
and friends because I'm proud of you. I think it's time that we have
many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact and do not have to
remain in the closet. I think that a gay person, up-front, will not
walk away from a responsibility and be afraid of being tossed out of
office. After Dade County, I walked among the angry and the frustrated
night after night and I looked at their faces. And in San Francisco,
three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he
was gay. And that night, I walked among the sad and the frustrated at
City Hall in San Francisco and later that night as they lit candles on
Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic
thing that would give them hope. These were strong people, people whose
faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings and people who I
never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed
hope.
And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the
Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on
television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to
is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope
for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the
pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right.
Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the
handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect
to the central committee and more offices, more gay people, that gives
a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move
forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay
person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.
So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I've found one
overriding thing about my personal election, it's the fact that if a
gay person can be elected, it's a green light. And you and you and you,
you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.
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