Some thoughts about this day of civil disobedience

By now, the lgbt blogs are buzzing about Dan Choi chaining himself to the fence at the White House in protest to slow movement on DADT and GetEqual's sit-in at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office to get some action moving on ENDA.

It's been an interesting day to say the least.

Now at the expense of riling up the negative emotions of those who are throwing out words like "civil disobedience" or those who are waxing nostalgic about the days of Act-Up and Queer Nation, or getting "the troll" after me yet again (i.e. a former friend who every now and then takes my posts and spins them to talk about how me and others have done him dirty), allow me to offer a few comments.

1. The actions today are awesome. But our reactions suck. Already some of us throwing personal attacks at each other. We seem to always forget that lgbts come from different background and therefore not everyone has the same opinion on things such as what is happening today.  But here is the thing we should all remember. NO ONE has the single correct solution or blueprint for gaining equality. At the very least, we owe each other respect. We get enough negativity thrown at us as it is without contributing to the ugliness.

 2. Let's not get so caught up that we forget other important matters.

Might I remind everyone that Oklahoma is trying to pass a bill that allows the state to destroy evidence rather than cooperate with the federal hate crime law.

We are in the middle of a huge battle in South Carolina to get the Legislature to restore much needed funding to organizations dedicated to fighting the spread of AIDS.

 Virginia seems to have gone anti-gay buck wild.

And I haven't even mentioned the fact that across the country, there are over 30 of those phony moral values groups just waiting to create havoc on a state-by-state level.

Last but not least, there are our lgbt youth - the next generation. Let's never forget about them.

My point? Today's actions do not mark a start or a finish but a chapter in a huge book which we must continue to write.