This is the letter that I sent to Equality Across America (EAA) this evening. info@equalityacrossamerica.org
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Hello nameless e-mail account,

My heart is breaking and it's all Equality Across America's fault...

    I, like the other countless LGBTs and their allies, took up the call to initiative in October and made my way to Washington DC to stand up for my rights. I remember hearing about the National Equality March on Facebook and then researching it more on your website and others. I remember the exact moment in time where I decided that the NEM was where I had to be, regardless if I could afford it or not.

    I was filled with so many emotions during my time in DC, I can't possibly put them into words. It was the best moment in my life... this isn't an exaggeration, it was literally the best, proudest, and highest moment of my life. I am still warmed by the remnant feelings of love, compassion, and vigor that permeated about the capitol.

I remember the night before the march, inside the little side room where we had our little pep-talk. I took your words to heart when you said that the march was not going to be the end but the beginning of the grassroots movement.

    In the days after the NEM, I remember feeling inspired by the knowledge that EAA was going to lead my generation of activists onto the battlefield of equality. Then I came to realize that EAA was becoming something it had never intended to become, HRC. With heirarchy taking priority over the movement. You left us to brunt the full force of hatred. You left us to fend for ourselves.

    I'm most fearful for those young LGBT's that built up the courage to come out of the closet after watching the NEM on tv, under the impression that there was all these people under one banner that were there to help them in some way. I'm angry for them! You left them out in the cold... because they had to watch Maine and New York fall victim to hatred and homophobia! With New Jersey soon to follow. 

Those kids now have to live their lives wondering if they should have just stayed in the closet. The thoughts running through their heads should be posted on your website, so you can understand the gravity of your inaction and silence.

    There are no more safe havens for the LGBT community, as we have watched our strongholds crumble before our very eyes in the course of a little over a year.

We are left out in the cold while you remain silent, your blog hasn't been updated for December as of yet, I'm certain that you're aware of our failing state affairs. EAA was supposed to be our answer to HRC-esque organizations that took our money and held fancy dinners without any progress. EAA was supposed to be our resource to the national communtiy at large with your network of leaders across the nation, EAA was supposed to be a beacon of hope for the young activists yearning to break the mold and make a difference.

I'm in tears as I write this to you, because I have come to the realization that you have left me alone in this. Will anyone even read this correspondence? 

    I don't want EAA to do anything from this point on; I want to forget the taste of venom that fills my mouth when I think about EAA in its current non-existant state, I want you to just dissapear entirely. You've broken my heart to the point where I was shattered... you almost crushed my dreams. You did so by remaining silent and on the sidelines.

You were important to me and countless others, and you let us down. 

My heart is now broken and its all Equality Across America's fault.

With great sadness,

Leo EQUALITY Murrieta

Political Correspondent - QVegas Magazine
Blogger and Political Activist - Citizenzero.us
Youth Advisor - Clark Country Democratic Black Caucus

Cell:702-628-1887
Email: Leo@citizenzero.us

Did you read the headlines today in the LGBT world? "New Jersey Same Sex Marriage Bill Delayed" and what does that mean...? The chances of this bill being passed are as good as gone.

We're waiting for a vote in the lower house of New Jersey's legislature to weigh in on the issue, allegedly to build momentum for the bill by allowing all members of the legislature to hear the public opinion on the matter. It must be said that the people of New Jersey really came out for this one, so this is both a negative and a positive in the same breathe.

We will allow more hatred and fear mongering to take center stage, while our pleas for justice will fall on deaf ears. Quite the delightful afternoon, wouldn't you say?

I pray that I'm wrong about New Jersey and that LGBT's are granted legislative equality in the Garden state! I pray that the wind doesn't get stolen from our sails yet again. I pray that we will be able to hold on to the east coast, because with California's demise last year and large defeats this winter.... our equality seems as good as gone.

...

If you thought that there was a safe haven for the LGBT community, you thought wrong. Another stronghold was lost with New York this past Wedneday. We can only hope for the best with the vote in New Jersey coming up next week, but have the leaders of our cause been learning the right lessons? Have they been reviewing the tapes and figuring out why we've been losing these big states?

President of the National Organization for Marriage, Maggie Gallagher, said, "The gay marriage movement usually looks very smart,” she said. “Now it looks flat-footed.”

Should gay marriage be put on the back burner and replaced by another LGBT issue like -
HR 1283 - Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 - Introduced in March
HR 3017 - Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 - Introduced in June
HR 3567 - Respect for Marriage Act of 2009 - introduced in September
HR 3827 - Every Child Deserves a Family Act - Introduced in October

Any of the above would be honorable causes, right?

With a crushing defeat of 24-38, the New York Senate slammed the door shut on marriage equality for our brothers and sisters in the former great state of New York. Hundreds gathered in the streets of Union Square to protest the vote, but should we really be angry with the Senate or should we be angry with the "leaders" at the top? By comparing our opponents to slave owners and nazis, did we truly expect for people to say, "Ya know what? Those gays are alright, lets support gay marriage" Yeah, right.

What will be the next step for the equal rights movement? What role will the national organizations play in the coming 2010 year? How about the grassroots organzations? Will we march again? Nobody knows... that's the scary part.

One by one, the rights of my brothers and sisters are being stripped away, and the nation looks on as if it were just another day.

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. " -Martin Luther King Jr.