Savage in St. Louis

Last night, Dan Savage was on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis for an open forum Q and A with students, faculty and guests of the university. For those of you not familiar with him, Savage is the writer of the syndicated sex column "Savage Love," and also the author of several books including "The Kid". He began with a discussion about the need for tolerance and understanding of gay issues in the United States. Over the course of about fifteen minutes he lectured on how behind the times the U.S. really is in terms of gay rights. He even used an oreo cookie as a metaphor, calling the United States the "bigot fucking cream" sandwiched between two far more liberal countries. He also railed against the conservative right and the need for increased tolerance. The thing about Dan Savage is that he is very frank with his opinions. He states exactly how he feels and thinks in terms of the issues that are before us. Another major speaking point was "tolerance" and that it meant not necessarily loving one another or even liking but merely accepting that everyone is different but allowing them the same happiness and freedom that everyone else enjoys. To quote Dan Savage, "too often the gays are looking for everyone to like them for who they are....like me, like me, love me, fucking like me.....but that is not tolerance....tolerance is accepting the fact that we are here and we exist and acknowledging that and then moving on. He also suggested that as a gay man, when asked whether or not it is a choice rather than a lifestyle to do the following...."First, ask the person in front of you to go down on you...." You see, if it were a choice than you as a straight man could choose to put my dick in your mouth. Secondly, he suggested asking that "if in fact it was a choice, would you want me to marry your daughter?" The answer was an obvious, Fuck No....because they know it is not a choice, they merely use that as an excuse to keep us down.
In terms of Proposition 8 being passed in California, he seemed confident in the fact that it would be overturned based on the simple fact of statistics. Over the last decade the public opinion has changed by 18% and in the state of California in order to pass a law or to repeal one you simply need 50% + 1 of the vote. Proposition 8 passed by a very slim margin and with increased grass root efforts and legislation on the ballot in 2010, when the country is not focused on electing a new president, the people of California will realize the need for change.
In addition to his statements about gay rights, he fielded questions concerning various love issues, essentially it was a live Savage Love column. This was the more entertaining part of the session as he fielded questions concerning "how to properly loosen a hole, what constitutes gay sex, the concept of fetishes, the idea of monogamy, whether or not it is true that you can split a penis in half and insert something inside of it......(yikes that would hurt)." He also spoke directly to the issues surrounding the African American community and their prejudice against homosexuals as well as the prejudism within the gay community towards blacks. Over the course of two hours, Dan Savage provided hope as well as humor for the gay, straight, and transgendered communities.
Following Dan's performance, I grabbed a bite to eat with my friend Jamison and we discussed the notion of Dan Savage actually believing everything that he spoke about and whether or not he truly took a hardline on the issues. We came to the conclusion that perhaps as one of our few gay celebrities who speaks directly to the people across the country he may have some sense of obligation. Because as Dan said, "We are not going to sit by idle anymore....we are going to have a fuck them attitude. The time of sitting by and taking the punishment is no more." In fact, hundreds of gays protested a Cinemark Theater in Evanston , Illinois just a few days ago. This was in response to Cinemark CEO, Alan Stock's donation of nearly ten thousand dollars to help the passage of proposition 8 in California.
In terms of what you can do to join this effort to pass laws granting the rights we deserve, there are a few options in the wake of the prop 8 rallies across the country. PROJECT POSTCARD is being run through the website http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/?t=anon . By going to this site you can acquire the address for President Elect O'Bama and send him a post card reminding him that he made certain promises to the LGBT community prior to being elected. While most politicians make a lot of promises, most fail to uphold their word. But we as citizens of this country have the right to demand a fair shot at equality. It is no longer a fight we cannot win, because as Dan reminded us, "The most bigoted people in this country are old people and people in the great state of Alabama, and most of the gays have left Alabama, plus the old fucks are dying....." So you see, there is hope.