Having just celebrated our nation’s 233rd anniversary of its independence, I find it almost foolish that we as Americans continue to say we are a “free nation.” No, we do not have a secret police; nor are we threatened with jail for speaking our minds, such as was done in Iran recently. But “Free men and women” some of us are not! How can we claim to be a free nation when men and women interested in the same sex are forbidden to serve in the Armed Forces and those who do are forced to remain silent about their lives, while heterosexuals continue to speak freely? How can we be a “free” nation, when we who practice the love that dare not speak its name are forbidden to give blood for a “fear” that was proven unfounded 20 years ago? How can we be “free” when a large minority dares say who we can and cannot love or marry! This is not a “free nation.” this is a tyranny of the minority, the scared, the hateful and the shamed.

What arrogance and audacity it is for mere men to say “for the Bible says it is so” when the Bible itself was written by men. It has been mistranslated, altered and printed in so many editions who knows what the original text says, yet those fools who hide their hate behind it believe every word as if it were the Creator’s. These blind followers of a sect of disturbed and twisted ancient stories somehow continue to usurp our rights to be equal and free. Free to marry, to donate blood, to serve our nation open and honestly! They would strip us of the rights our older brothers and sisters fought so hard to gain starting 40 years ago, and even before!

On this, the 40th Anniversary of our Liberation Movement, we must as a community reflect on those words from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What about our right to Life? Ask Matthew Shepard, Seaman August Provost and the thousands of others whose lives were and are taken by those who seek to oppress us. What about liberty? Ask yourselves “What about my right to be who I want to be and live how I see fit without fear and repression?” And what about the pursuit of happiness? I desire happiness, as do all of us, but many of us cannot be happy because of the existing laws, such as the Nazi-like Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8.

So, my brothers and sisters I close with this: This Pride celebrate us, our achievements as a community and accomplishments towards making this nation a FREE nation for all. This Pride stop for a bit, think about the words on this page, those we have lost along the way in the struggle. Then show our enemies that we can still have our lives, our liberty, and our happiness, and that they are about to lose this cultural war! Show them the best and the brightest (colors) of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer. Let freedom ring across this city, state and nation!