"The founders of this nation designed our Constitution so that we would be guaranteed the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are engaged in a bitter battle here at home to defend those rights. And we will win that battle. But we must also recognize our responsibility to extend those rights to others. The right to live an open and honest life should not stop at the borders of the United States.
Many countries around the world need to be told that being gay is not a crime: Iran, yes, but also Poland and Russia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iraq. We have the right to speak up. We have the ability to organize. The questions are: Do we have the will? And do we care enough about our brothers and sisters abroad? These are questions only you can answer," - my friend, Rob Anderson, who organized the DC rally yesterday.
The photo above is from Warsaw, Poland, now run by a pathologically homophobic government. More on the DC vigil here; a round-up of other worldwide vigils here; a Washington Post piece here; and a report from Dublin here. Keep checking Petrelis' blog for more updates. Notice also that this was done without any serious initiative from the well-financed gay groups. Their irrelevance to this movement is sometimes stunning. Oh, and one more eloquent pic from NYC:
