WC: Thank You Andrea for Not Compromising

Andrea--Thanks for fighting the good fight. I have never understood why abandoning a section of our community counts as compromise. For me, it's selling out other people.

I guess there are political reasons to do so. Throughout U.S. history, progress has happened in fits and starts, and politics does require some very strange behavior. I love the saying that a camel is a horse designed by committee. It reminds me that the very nature of politics results in some bizarre results, and that's life.

But since you are the president of a club that represents our entire community, I think you are right to take the stand you are taking.

I know many gay/lesbian folk who consider transgendered and even bi people to be weights around our necks. I remember someone I know in San Diego--someone on the wall of fame at the gay center--saying, "Why can't they get their own movement?" I was very sad to hear that comment.

My late and wonderful friend Dennis Meiners once said that we will have achieved equality not when the most impressive gay person succeeds but when a mediocre gay person can be as successful as a mediocre straight person. Similarly, I believe that we will have only achieved equality when those of us who don't look and act like straight people can get our full rights.

You rock, Andrea!