Adam does DC

NEW BLOG!!!!

2007-05-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

From this day forth I will not be posting to this blog. Rather, we at the Washington Office have started an office blog! Please add it to your favorites, www.uuawo.blogspot.com.

At the new blog you can read posts from myself as well as Elizabeth, Meredith, Rob and Kat - and in a few months you can read from our new office additions - Grace, Lisa and Alex.

Thanks for your readership and I look forward to hearing from you at http://uuawo.blogspot.com/.

This blog will remain live, but functioning as only an archive.

Randall Tobias' Prostitution Pledge

2007-05-03T12:48:00.000-04:00

This blog post by Jodi Jacobson, Director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, sort of knocks the wind out of you and replaces it with a ball of fire... please read:

In the final moments of the Washington work day last Friday evening, emails began shooting across my screen announcing the immediate resignation of Randall Tobias as Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The official press release cited "personal reasons," and this was clearly important news, so I passed it on to colleagues right away. One immediately wrote back asking for the "back story," on suspicion that a late-Friday release always means something fishy. I offered that Mr. Tobias might have a family emergency, and while I've long been a critic of the policies over which he has presided both as Global AIDS Coordinator and in his current capacity, I nonetheless felt compassion for him in what appeared to be a serious personal matter.

Boy was I wrong. Little did I realize that this was in fact a "back" story . . . Tobias's had been inviting some "gals" over to his condo for personal massages. Problem is those "gals" were employed by Pamela Martin and Associates, described in court papers by owner Deborah Palfrey as a "high-end adult fantasy firm offering legal sexual and erotic services across the spectrum of adult sexual behavior." Palfrey, now dubbed the DC Madam, is under investigation for running a "prostitution ring," a no-no last time I understood Administration policy. Tobias's personal cell phone number was found among thousands of other customers, many of them reportedly high-level Washington officials, on a list kept by Palfrey now being used in her defense.

Tobias, of course, claims he "did not have sex with those women" (let's call them "les gals"), and just invited them over for a bunch of friendly massages. Let's put aside whether Tobias simply lusted in his heart while receiving massages from women employed by a firm offering "legal sexual and erotic services," and ask: If tight muscles were the only problem, why didn't he open the yellow pages and hire a certified massage therapist? Is the concierge at his condo on vacation? And does the fact that some of the women were from Central America—immigration status unknown—hint at a new kind of guest worker program supported by the Administration?

Let me be clear: I personally do not care about, nor is it my business to know about, the sexual habits, practices or relationships of consenting adults, and in any case sex between mature, consenting individuals is normal and healthy. But religious fundamentalist self-righteousness and hypocrisy both send me up the wall. And as you may know, Bush and his supporters are really big on abstinence. From sex. Always. In the far-right's anti-science, always-fiction world, you should never have sex, unless you are a married heterosexual willing to do so only at risk of getting pregnant. Others—sexually active unmarrieds, gay, lesbian and transgender persons, and anyone else outside the "norm"—are subject to reprogramming. So since the Bush Administration wants a video cam in every bedroom and uterus (and I have no idea whether Tobias was taping his masseuses but that is another story), it is fair to ask if these guys are practicing what they preach. Apparently not.

This might in fact just have been one more "thank-god-its-Friday" "what next?" Washington story if it weren't for the irony of Tobias' recent career path, in which he was previously the Global AIDS Coordinator, responsible for overseeing the $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and now, as Director of all U.S. Foreign Assistance, ultimately responsible for all foreign assistance including HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and family planning and other areas having to do with sex, reproduction, and women's rights.

Abstinence is big in U.S. global AIDS policy, which one colleague dubbed the "Americans for Stopping Sex in Africa League." Billions of dollars have been spent in a fruitless effort at home and abroad to spread a hyper-moralistic and ideological message to everyone and sundry. Programs teaching people sexual negotiation and safer sex methods have become as scarce as rubbers in Uganda. Even sex workers in Asia and Africa are being told to abstain. (Don't ask me . . . it's in the program guides.)

Never mind that unprotected sex is the single greatest factor in the spread of HIV infection worldwide in a global epidemic of unprecedented proportions, and never mind that, as a long list of cell phone numbers from Washington officials indicates, others share my contention that sex is a fundamental part of human life and everyone is trying to get some somewhere.

So enter Tobias who, in both his past and current position, has been and is the ultimate defender and enforcer of some of the most highly controversial policies, including the so-called "ABC" (abstain, be faithful, use-condoms-if-you-are-a-sex-worker-or can't-control yourself) approach to HIV prevention, the prostitution pledge, and the anti-trafficking policies of the Bush Administration. He has repeatedly testified before Congress supporting these policies, regularly using faulty data to support his claims.

Under the "ABC" policy as developed under Tobias' watch, some 11 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have been subject to abstinence-only-until marriage programs, receiving no information, training, or methods to practice safer sex, despite the fact that unprotected sex is responsible for 80 percent of new infections in that region. Condoms have been re-stigmatized and in some programs paid for by your tax dollars, teens actually are told they will go to hell for having sex.

Another 30 million have received "abstinence and be faithful messages"—whatever that means. And whatever it means, either it doesn't work in high-literacy settings in Washington or Tobias, a married man, has not been reading his own literature. I mean, even if no "actual sexual activity" was involved (and in some abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula in the United States even touching constitutes an unforgivable act, so unless Les Gals were using retractable devices for those massages, I am suspicious) do you qualify as "being faithful" when you have private exotic dancers prancing through your apartment? Rick Warren please advise.

But the irony does not stop there. Under the "prostitution pledge," U.S. policy forbids organizations from receiving U.S. global AIDS funding if they refuse to sign a pledge stating that they will not in any way promote or support prostitution. Violating this pledge means loss of funding. This policy, vaguely written and defined as is the pattern of the far right, has led to the closure of drop-in centers, classes, and health clinics serving the needs of sex workers in several countries in Asia, and has turned health professionals into snitches for the Administration. As a result, the trust built up over many years between the public health community and disadvantaged and marginalized groups like sex workers has been demolished, the basic human rights of sex workers abrogated, and efforts to stem the spread of HIV infection grossly undermined.

I may be missing something, but does hiring gals from an organization that promotes itself as selling sexual services contradict this policy? Does the fact that this involved women from another country, thereby possibly violating the anti-trafficking policies of the Bush Administration mean that the USAID uber-Administrator himself is in violation of the laws he is supposed to be upholding, however deeply misguided these are? Does this mean that USAID should de-fund the Administrator's office and do we need a State Department Trafficking in Persons report on the activities of individuals within the Administration? And what about the "end-demand" policies of the Administration that wants to put all "johns" in jail? Does Tobias serve time for his gal-pal flings?

In a saner world, U.S. global AIDS policies (and all those having to do with reproductive and sexual health) would be based on the promotion of individual rights, public health, and collective responsibility. In a saner world, the U.S. government would not be known for its fundamentalist "tighty-whities-in-a-twist" approach to sex.

But we don't live in that world. In our world, people with wealth, money, and power get away with "special massages," they make unrealistic rules for other people and set their own for themselves. And those at greatest risk of life-threatening infections and engaged in a fundamental daily life struggle to survive are punished in the interest of moralism. Give me some real science fiction any day.

Randall Tobias and his former boss.

New Orleans - 19 Months Post-Katrina

2007-04-04T17:41:00.000-04:00

Meredith, EB (Elizabeth) and I are in New Orleans as part of an All Souls DC service trip. We are staying at Hands On New Orleans and spending our days gutting homes, painting, and generally rebuilding. In groups we are also taking half-day tours, seeing the extent of the damage and hearing about the waters and then injustice and racism that that have flooded this city for the last 19 months. I have also been reading the local papers and talking to everyone I come across to find out as much as I can.

This is my first trip to a disaster zone and it has been highly emotional. I have been deeply moved not just at times, but in a continually building and almost overwhelming way. Here are some of the stories I have heard, facts I have gleaned, thoughts I have had, and people I have met.

250,000 New Orleanians have still not returned to the city which previous to Katrina held around 500,000 people.
90% of the city was flooded. That is 90% of the homes as well. To repair a home that sat in water for two weeks you generally have to demold the home (a process that includes lots of chemicals), then you have to throw away nearly everything that was in the home and strip down all the drywall or plaster, pull up the flooring, if there was roof damage then take down the ceiling drywall. Then you essentially have a "gutted" home. Then you can begin rebuilding the interior - putting in new electric and walls and ceilings. Then you can buy furniture and go home. This is a long and very expensive process. Lots of labor, lots of materials, and in many neighborhoods almost every home needs to go through this process in order for folks to come "home".
Federal Emergency Response Assistance is distributed based on a 1988 law that requires that municipalities requesting federal assistance contribute 10% of costs towards rebuilding and the Federal Government will cover 90%. New Orleans has already accumulated a debt to the federal government of $324 million in just their "10%". Congress wants to waive that debt to enable further rebuilding, Bush does not. That "10%" was waived for NYC after 9/11 and for Florida after Hurricane Andrew. In the Emergency Supplemental passed by both houses of Congress that debt is waived. President Bush plans on vetoing the supplemental bill because it also sets a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq (and he doesn't want to waive the debt in the first place). Also, funding from the government can not be used to improve infrastructure, only to return it to pre-disaster levels. They are balking at funding repairs to the sewer system as they claim it was poorly maintained before hand. Also rebuilding in such a way to reflect changes in population (such as combining schools) is not an option - it has to be the same as before. In the NY times an article used this analogy, if you had a 1981 Toyota Camry with a leaky radiator that was lost in the flood the Federal Government will buy you a 1981 Toyota Camry and punch a hole in the radiator.
I cleaned out debris from under a home today which is currently owned by Mr. Banks. It used to belong to his aunt who died shortly after the storm. He currently has moved across the river to an area that wasn't flooded. He is a disabled veteran and lost everything in the storm. His daughter has to go to school in Baton Rouge - 100 miles away. He is going to let the Hands-On long term volunteers stay there for six months pro-bono after the home is rebuilt.
My team leader was Chet. Chet worked got laid off of his factory job in Michigan shortly after the storm and took to drinking heavily. One night he saw some nightly news coverage about the losses that New Orleanians have endured. He remembers thinking, "I thought I had it bad". He sold all his belongings and took a Greyhound to New Orleans with $500 in his pocket last Spring. He has been volunteering at Hands On ever since. Gutting and rebuilding homes. Chet is not alone in his dedication.
Bree is a member of the First Unitarian Church of New Orleans. She was a renter pre-Katrina and lost everything she owned in the storm. She is handicap. She was given a FEMA trailer that was non-accessible and had to join a class action lawsuit to get an accessible trailer - they won two months ago and she is still awaiting her trailer. She is making due with the non-accessible one. I also learned that the original "accessible" trailers given out after the storm didn't come with ramps, had light switches on the ceiling, and temperature controls under the table.
Two weeks after Katrina the New Orleans School board voted to turn many of the local public schools into charter schools. Few Schools have reopened, many teachers have retired putting a lot of strain on the city to pay pensions and health care costs with a much smaller tax base.

I have a couple of more days here and am learning more each day. I am truly learning what a disaster is.

Yesterday while touring the city and seeing all the damage I realized I had left my boots and jeans outside to dry from my previous day's sweaty work. I bought $40 sole inserts for my boots a couple of weeks ago and I have pretty nice boots. After realizing that I became somewhat anxious hoping they would still be there when I returned. I jumped out of the van when we got back and sure enough they were sitting there. Relief swept over me until I realized that I had driving past the lives of nearly 450,000 people who came home to find that not only were their boots lost, but so were their hats, their dogs, their favorite recipes, their cars, their walls, their neighbors, and their neighborhoods.

The Moral Balance Sheet

2007-03-15T13:56:00.000-04:00

I have spent a better part of the last month working with our Public Witness team to develop a moral balance sheet on the Iraq war. What follows is a letter introdcing it, by Bill Sinkford, and the moral balance sheet itself...

To Members of the United States Congress:

The United States has spent at least $400 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The astronomical cost of these operations is exceeded only by the staggering human toll, and both counts are far beyond what any of us could have imagined when we invaded Iraq in the spring of 2003. Now, four years later, the administration is asking you to approve $100 billion to prolong this disastrous conflict and to return exhausted soldiers to a dangerous and embittered land.

While this money would allow our nation to send more brave citizens into harm’s way, it would do little to guarantee that they will be fully trained and equipped, or that our wounded veterans will receive adequate medical treatment once they return home. And the increased funding does nothing to ensure a speedy end to the carnage in Iraq. We have already failed our troops in so many tragic ways. The best way to support them now is to bring them home and to ensure that they and their families are given all of the respect, compensation, and care they deserve.

Rather than a surge of troops, we American taxpayers deserve a surge of truth.
Because citizens of all faiths and political persuasions are being asked to pay to prolong the violence, it is our moral obligation to reckon the true cost of the war before we agree to continue it. To give a true reckoning, we must honestly confront what we have done in Iraq, and we also must acknowledge the many vital needs we have left unfunded because we chose to put our money toward war.

Until we can adequately prepare and protect our troops, until we can provide them with premium medical services when they return home, and until we can guarantee a speedy and just end to the Iraq conflict, I urge you not to spend another American dollar on this war. I hope you will take a moment to review the enclosed balance sheet. These concerns are neither Republican nor Democratic. They transcend partisan differences. They are moral concerns that affect all of us.

Sincerely,

William G. Sinkford
President, Unitarian Universalist Association

The True Cost of War: A Moral Balance Sheet

One Day in Iraq
To date, more than 3,100 American military members have been killed in Iraq, and another 400 have been killed in Afghanistan. On average, another college-aged soldier (between the ages of 18 and 22) is killed every day.

The money the US spends on average in just one day in Iraq, $259 million, could have provided 22,615 college-aged students with a full year’s tuition or enrolled 35,500 three- and four-year-olds a full year in Head Start pre-school programs.

One Week in Iraq
The toll of the war on Iraqi civilians has been devastating. Estimates of the number of Iraqi dead range up to half a million.

As many as 3.8 million Iraqis have already fled their homes, and an additional 10,500 civilians become refugees on average every week.

The money spent in one week in Iraq could have provided three meals a day for nearly an entire year for 6 million children, the same number that dies from hunger and malnutrition every year.

One Month in Iraq
In addition to the tens of thousands of injuries American service members have sustained in fighting in Iraq, more than 500 have undergone “major amputations” – the loss of arms or legs. In the four years of fighting in Iraq, that totals ten servicemen and women losing a limb every month (or one every three days).

For less than the amount spent in one month in Iraq, New Orleans’ neighborhoods could be completely rebuilt and improved to meet standards that would better protect them against another hurricane.

One Year in Iraq
More than 34,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006 alone. That is equivalent to 93 civilians killed every day.

The money spent in Iraq in one year could have paid the health insurance premiums for half of all uninsured Americans, including all uninsured American children.

Four years in Iraq
More than 3,100 American service members have been killed since the invasion, and more than 23,500 soldiers have been wounded. As many as 300,000 veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, two-thirds of whom are not being treated.

What could we have purchased with $400 billion, had our national priorities matched our moral potential?

We could have funded full American compliance in the Kyoto Protocol, which is estimated to cost $75 billion less than what we’ve already spent in Iraq.

We could have purchased life-giving treatment, including costly antiretroviral drugs, for every person in the world infected with HIV/AIDS. For almost six full years.

The Years Ahead
Even if it ends tomorrow, we will be paying for this war for decades to come. When we factor in the future costs of veterans’ medical care, disability payments, and the price of rebuilding our depleted military, the total cost could exceed $1.2 trillion.

Imagine what our world might look like in a few years if we had focused those resources on making the world healthier, wealthier, better educated, and safer.

As Americans, it is our duty to hold ourselves and our government accountable for any decision to spend American lives and money on a futile war. These are moral choices, and they have moral consequences.

© Unitarian Universalist Association, 2007. References and source material are available upon request. This document maybe be reproduced in its entirety and freely distributed. When material is excerpted we ask only that it be attributed to the UUA.

Cross-Cultural Conference

2007-02-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

From February 8th through 11th I was in Savannah attending the Southeastern Regional Conference on Cross-Cultural Issues for Educators and Counselors. It was a fascinating program featuring a presentation by Derald Wing Sue on racial microaggressions and another by William Cross Jr. on Ethnic, Racial, and Cultural Identity Across the Lifespan.

Derald Wing Sue spoke about making the invisible visible. The term racial microaggression is meant to describe instances when racial undertones are present in interpersonal relations, such as calling a black man "articulate" or telling an Asian-American that "you speak very good English" - "OF COURSE I DO! I was born here!"

Dr. Sue explained that these are the most common forms of racism in our modern age and they are very troublesome. Racial microaggressions create a hostile and invalidating climate, sap spiritual and psychic energy, and can lead to depression and frustration. Those that witness or experience microaggressions must struggle with the difficult questions "how do I respond to this", "did that really just happen", and after the fact "how should I have handled that". And these situations can be even further complicated by the dynamics in which they take place... what do you do when a teacher or a boss commits a micoraggression?

The last presentation of the conference was that of William Cross Jr. He spent a great deal of time criticizing the "post-traumatic slave syndrome". He countered the notion that problems faced by the black community such as high incarceration rates and broken families are caused by the legacy of slavery. He argued that such a position is seductive and dangerous and that "blaming slavery is intellectual laziness". He had us break into groups and discuss the "legacy of slavery" - after we shared the destructive elements we saw as the legacy, he agreed with us and then went on to talk about how black music grew out of slavery - spirituals, jazz, blues... He also talked about how immediately after slavery blacks wandered the country looking for their families and set up "Sabbath Schools" to educate their youth. He showed that from the end up slavery up until the 1960's 70% of black families were two parent households. He argued that slavery is not necessarily to blame for the problems currently facing the black community, rather, he said, we should look at contemporary structural issues that have negatively affected the black community.

As an example he spoke of the drug laws in Virginia. Previous to 1985 70% of those in prison were white - reflecting the proportions in the greater population. In 1985 Virginia revised their drug laws giving stiffer penalties to crack users than to those who used pot or cocaine... since that law was passed more and more black men were sent to prison, and now there are more black men than whites in Virginia prisons. Crack, cocaine, and pot are all illegal - the biggest difference between them is that crack is most present in the poor black community and pot and cocaine are more commonly found in the white community.

I also attended workshops on "hip-hop, race and class" and "white male identity development". Below are some quotes and statistics I scribbled down during my workshops and the presentations that I found interesting, funny, and/or inspiring:

"50% of people of color terminate counseling after one session, only 30% of whites do the same".

"If you don't open up the can does it mean that the worms aren't there?"

Black Mother to Child - "What do you do WHEN you are stopped by the police/security?"

"George Bush was born on third base and believes he hit a triple."

"Power is in a group's ability to define reality"

"Rap is something that you do, hip-hop is something that you are."

"Don't say 'I'm racist but so is everyone', say 'I'm racist and I'm committed to justice'."

"When there is no clear cut answer live the question."

Washington Redskins?

2007-02-06T17:20:00.000-05:00

This past week our office read an article on racism in a culture of violence by George Tinker for our weekly Theological Reflection. A large part of that article looked at the specific racism faced by Native Americans. Talk about a hard history to face. Massacres, expulsion, plagues, neglect, oppression, and now they have become mascots.

Can you imagine what it would be like to live as a Native American, completely aware of the history between the United States and your people and to see your people being used as mascots!!! Especially as the mascot for the football team of the Nation's Capital: The Washington Redskins. The REDSKINS!!!!

More Peace... please

2007-02-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

In the middle of the day today I decided to run some figures on the Iraq war as part of a UUA messaging campaign looking at the "Moral Balance" of this war. What I found was truly disturbing...

Our Congress has appropriated nearly $365 billion dollars for the war in Iraq since it began. With that money we could have done all of the following:

Double the number of teachers we currently have in our public schools;
Build a public housing unit for each homeless person in America;
Provide health insurance for every uninsured child in America;
Give $85,000 to each of the 1 million persons displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Or we could have provided full four-year scholarships for every undergraduate student in America.

With these rather heavy thoughts on my mind, I wrote this introduction to our advocacy news mailing list today:

On Saturday, Adam Gerhardstein and Elizabeth Bukey joined 800 Unitarian Universalists and 500,000 Americans marching for Peace. It was a beautiful day to spend in the company of people who are passionate about their country and compassionate with the world. But it is also such a luxury to be able to gather in opposition to a government's policy. One must think of the thousands of Darfurians who have died at the hands of their government, or the thousands of Iraqis who have died and the millions of others who fear to go out in public and face the terror of yet another public bombing. Even in our times of anger, frustration, and protest we are privileged.
With that in mind please take the time to exercise that privilege in the most responsible way. The action items below will help you reach out to your Representatives and to your fellow Americans, giving you an opportunity to share your deepest convictions in the hopes that we can make this world a more peaceful and just place.

Peace and War

2007-01-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I attended a friends birthday party where I met a Kuwaiti who had been in Kuwait when Saddam Hussein invaded back in the first Iraq war. I shared about the advocacy and witness we are doing to try and bring an end to the current Iraq war and we talked about war in general.

Reflecting on living through a war, he was adamant that war was a horrible way to solve problems. He saw nothing of value in that method of confrontation. He spoke of the hard work of regaining a childhood shattered by war, of how hard it was to move on from that tragic reality.

On Thursday, I watched the film God Grew Tired of Us, a documentary about the lost boys of Sudan. It tells the story of a generation of Sudanese children who were chased from their homes, separated from their families, and in many cases died as they tried to reach refugee camps in Ethiopia and then Kenya. It was another chilling account of lives disturbed by war; of the tragic consequences of dealing with differences in a violent and destructive way.

Since beginning at the Washington Office my thoughts on war have become more clear. It is stupid. In line with the writings of Margaret Meade, I believe that war is a horrible invention that needs to be replaced with better methods for solving conflicts, showing courage, protecting what we hold dear, and for spending our tax dollars.

I have had the blessing of working with many UUs who are actively engaging in the process of becoming peacemakers. These folks are looking at the roots of violence in the world and within themselves and working to bring about a shift in consciousness. As radical, and some would say futile, as such work may seem, I believe this is very important work. Committing yourself to living non-violently, to living consciously, to engaging with the world in a constructive way is a noble endeavor; I only wish more would choose that path.

Personally, I will continue to do my piece by advocating on the Hill for a change in policy, and I will continue to explore what it means to live peacefully with love and courage leading the way.

From One President to Another

2007-01-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

The following is an open letter from President of the UUA, Bill Sinkford, to the President of the United States, George Bush. I am very proud of this response to Bush's latest announcement of an increase of troop levels:

January 11, 2007

Dear Mr. President,

Your decision to increase the US military forces in Iraq by 21,500 additional troops stunningly disregards the wishes of the American people, the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

Since March 2003, more than 3,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq , and more than 47,000 have been wounded. You don't want us to see them, but flag-draped coffins arrive daily at Dover Air Force Base. Yes, better body armor might save more lives, but only at very high costs, the greatest being mangled bodies and diminished futures. Even those of our soldiers without physical wounds are hurting; witnessing the meaningless suffering of countless Iraqis is leaving them with spiritual wounds that may never heal. We must not inflict these fates upon one more soldier without strong evidence that sending more troops will lessen the carnage in Baghdad 's streets and increase our safety at home. I ask you today, Mr. President, where is the evidence for this?

Your policies have betrayed the trust of thousands of patriotic Americans who volunteered in good faith to serve our country. Four years of a failed war has robbed us of beloved brothers, wives, sons, and daughters. And yet you ask us to order our troops to endure more bloodshed and to inflict more harm on a broken country. My son served honorably as a soldier in Afghanistan during the early stages of that war, and so I know how much courage and dedication our troops embody. If we ask them to risk death daily, we had better have a just and sound reason for that request. Their willingness to lay down their lives is a sacred trust. I implore you not to betray that trust any further.

Yes, Mr. President, we do need a change of policy in Iraq . But do we need to escalate our troop levels? The Iraq Study Group says No . Do we need to put more troops in harm's way? Three out of four of Americans say No . Do we need to spend more, fight harder, sacrifice more American lives, and kill more Iraqi citizens in order to secure peace in their country and in our own? People of conscience the world over say No!

And yet you would have the American people give our blessing to all of these ill-advised plans. As a religious leader, as a father of a former soldier, and as a concerned American, I am compelled to ask -- To what end? The whole world is asking this question and unless you can answer it, America will continue to lose credibility with the international community. In the months leading up to the war, I posed a number of questions that I felt needed to be answered, questions regarding your plans for acting in partnership with the international community in any diplomatic and military efforts and your plans for ending the proposed war. These questions were not answered when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, and they remain unanswered today.

Therefore, I cannot lend my support as more brave and loyal Americans are sent down a failed path with failed tactics.

As you risk the lives of our men and women in uniform on a mission that is completely contrary to the will of the American people, it is our democratic duty to make our voices heard. It is time to say NO!

Sincerely,

Rev. William G. Sinkford

NO!

2007-01-10T15:37:00.000-05:00

At 9 pm tonight President Bush will be addressing the nation. It is expected that he will announce his intention to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. It is time to say NO!

Across the nation over 500 rallies/vigils have been organized and continue to be organized for tomorrow evening. All across the nation folks are banding together to send a simple strong message NO! Please visit www.AmericaSaysNo.org to find an event in your hometown or to register an event you are organizing.

I plan on heading to LaFayette Park after work tomorrow, directly across from the White House. I have also signed the petition on the above website.

I will soon be posting a letter from UUA President, Bill Sinkford, to President Bush reacting to his announcement.

Beacon St

2007-01-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

Wow! The holidays were amazing! Spending time with friends and family, jumping around on frozen lakes, and jumping through holes in frozen lakes left me feeling very invigorated and fulfilled.

AND as soon as I get back to work I get to take off on another adventure and head up to Boston to meet with headquarters. For those of you who don't know, the UUA Headquarters (our Vatican city) is at 25 Beacon St. in Boston - right next to the state house as you can see in the picture.

We are in Boston for a series of meetings with the Public Witness team, the Congregational Advocacy office, and the whole UUA Staff. It is very helpful to come here and get grounded in the broader UUA staff family. There are a lot of dedicated and talented people working for the UUA and I am proud to be a member of this community.

Today was also the swearing in of the new governor of Massachusetts. Deval Patrick swore in as the first black governor of Mass on the Amistad bible. Also down in Washington the 110th Congress was sworn in and Nancy Pelosi was elected first female speaker of the house. It is an exciting day of firsts.

Back in the Federal City

2007-01-02T14:56:00.000-05:00

All federal buildings are closed today in a national day of mourning for President Ford. But on Thursday the city will dramatically come back to life as the new House of Representatives is sworn in and the 110th Congress begins.

WELCOME NANCY!

For those of you who don't know (as I did not a while ago) the congressional calender is a two year cycle at the end of which the entire House of Representatives and one third of the Senate is up for reelection. This Congress, the 110th, will be the first Democratically controlled congress since 1994. This has a lot of progressive organizations hoping for change and rustling up their bases for a major congressional push, advocating for policies that were largely ignored by the Republican congress.

Our Global AIDS partners are optimistic that we may be able to repeal the abstinence-until-marriage earmarks on prevention funding. Our LGBT coalitions are hoping to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, protecting LGBT folks in the workplace. The congress is expected to take immediate actions to implement all the 9/11 commission recommendations, raise the minimum wage, and reform congressional ethics laws.

BYE-BYE DENNIS!

Personally, I am eager to see how much this shift in power leads to a shift in policy. Many folks believe that while this is a Democratic Congress it is a centrist congress that may not move on more controversial social issues. Given that our main legislative priorities as an office are LGBT rights, comprehensive sex education, and racial justice it is unclear if we will see any major success over the next couple of years. However, we most likely will not have to spend so much of our time tirelessly defending our causes, such as fighting off another federal marriage amendment, so at least our time can be spent on proactive advocacy and education, which may not lead to any immediate successes, but can be viewed as laying the ground work for great success down the line.

So bring on the new year and the new congress. I am ready to work!

Home in Cincinnati

2006-12-24T13:51:00.000-05:00

So I am back in Cincinnati for the holidays and I have been spending a lot of quality time with family and friends. Because we don't see each other that often, I have been spending a lot of time talking about what I am doing in DC and how I am enjoying it. It is fun to summarize my experiences and reflect on how they are enriching my life.

Cincinnati

With the year coming to a close I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to work in the federal city and to meet all the fabulous people I have met and grown close with. I am not jaded by the political system, if anything I am repeatedly reminded of how important advocacy is, how important it is to take democracy beyond the ballot box (that is lecture I have been giving all my cincy folks).

Being home has also reminded me of the richness of my entire life. How many wonderful people have contributed to who I am and why I am proud to be from this midwestern city. I have strong roots that continue to ground me in the soil of love (cheesy!).

I am headed up to Minnesota the day after Christmas to see more family and will be returning to DC on the 1st... three days before the new congress settles in. See you in the New Year!

Office Crew

2006-12-20T15:08:00.000-05:00

Here is the office crew at our Holiday Party:

Meredith, Me, Elizabeth, Kat, Alida, and Rob

And in the middle is our holiday Ficus Tree complete with the White House 2006 Christmas ornament.

American Democracy

2006-12-15T15:44:00.000-05:00

I was thinking of American Democracy the other night and I thought I would share some of my thoughts.

As we work on our issues, we often are working on them from a far leftist perspective. So far left, that no matter what legislation is passed it will not be close to what we would like to ideally see (in most cases). I do not see this as a frustrating reality. I see this as reflective of the greater society in which we live. Granted, I grew up in this quirky midwest liberal environment - an integrated neighborhood! a progressive public school! a UU church! - all great things, but definately not reflective of the broader American community. Congress on the other hand is, as it was designed, reflective of the broader US community.

For this reason our national congress is trying to reconcile the super-hip social justice New York activist voter with the Montana rural llama farmer voter. No wonder they take forever to get stuff done and then only do it halfway.

This realization has been heightened by the awareness, and the buzz in the air, about the incoming congress. The 110th congress, the first Democratic controlled congress since 1994, has many folks hoping for major changes, but many other folks are expecting more of the same. Personally, I am just excited to further understand how the political system works, seeing what happens when a different party sets the agenda.

January 4th the new Congress will be sworn-in and then the fun will begin.

American Democracy

World AIDS Day

2006-12-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

Friday was World AIDS Day and Bill Sinkford, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, was in DC. I planned a full day's worth of activities including speaking at a morning vigil, an afternoon UNAIDS event, and lobby visits. On the Wednesday before World AIDS Day, I arrange for him to take part in a press conference on the PATHWAY Act and how US policies could be reformed so that our HIV prevention funding doesn't mandate spending on "abstinence-until-marriage" programming. Below is his statement... it is wonderful:

World AIDS Day gives us an opportunity to educate ourselves about how we can fight this epidemic. A problem so large and so devastating requires us to work together for political and scientific solutions, but it also calls on us to offer a spiritual response, a response that goes beyond sectarian doctrines and embraces our shared humanity. All of the world’s great religions exhort us to love our neighbors. What we religious people now must ask ourselves is, “Who is my neighbor?” The global AIDS epidemic has taught us that we are all connected – black, white, and brown; young and old; male and female; gay and straight. Our neighbors live in tiny African villages, in Russian brothels, and in forgotten places all over the world where hope grows dim. We must not turn away from them.

We know now that the populations suffering the highest rate of new infections are youths aged 15-24 and young married women. Our neighbors with AIDS are trapped in abusive marriages, and they are victims of civil war and genocide. And some of our neighbors who live in relatively peaceful regions are victims of oppressive patriarchies and are unable to protect themselves from domestic sexual violence. And because of these alarming facts, we also know that some of our neighbors are struggling for life in neo-natal care units. We mock their sufferings when we offer international AIDS relief with strings attached. Abstinence is a luxury for those who have complete control over their own bodies and wills. When there is no ability to give or withhold consent, what protection does the choice of “abstinence” offer?

We Unitarian Universalists support the PATHWAY Act because it requires the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to develop a comprehensive HIV prevention plan that addresses the specific vulnerabilities of women and youth. The Act also eliminates “abstinence-only” conditions on HIV funding. Our policies must reflect the realities of people’s lives. We know that “just say No” didn’t work in the Garden of Eden, and it isn’t stopping the spread of HIV today, either in the US or abroad.

As we confront the human tragedy that is global AIDS, we must urge our leaders not to let their personal commitments to specific ideologies stand in the way of saving lives. We hear politicians invoking “moral values.” Well, as a person of faith, I’m obligated to say that it is immoral to abdicate our responsibility for the spread of AIDS. We know how to ameliorate this epidemic. We have the medical means; we can muster the economic means. The question we must ask ourselves now is whether we have the will to do it. And that becomes a moral -- a religious -- question.

Because all faith communities are called to act in the world, I pray that our actions will reflect the essential truth at the heart of all the world’s religions. We must live the compassion that is at the core of our sacred teachings.
The Rev. Bill Sinkford speaking at "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Social Justice Crisis

2006-09-28T00:38:00.000-04:00

What does it mean to work for social justice?

I have been bearing witness to some tragic events on both a global and local level. Yesterday I was riding my bike from my home up to Mt. Plesant. When I reached the intersection at U st. and 16th, the biker in front of me rode through the intersection going north on 16th(he had a green light) and a car coming south on 16th took a left onto U st., unfortunately the car turned left directly into the biker... who wasn't wearing a helmet! He flew up over his handlebars and sort of tumbled onto the pavement. Fortunately the car had tried to stop and so the impact wasn't at a very high speed. The young biker was very dazed. He got up and came to the sidewalk, the driver pulled over and got out of the car with his pregnant wife and showered him with apologies, took down his info and offered to put him in a cab or drive him home (his front tire was bent to hell).

I was sticking around because I thought I might be helpful as a witness, but the family who had hit him was taking complete ownership of their error and the biker was so dazed he wasn't really registering the fact that I was trying to help. Meanwhile, everyone else who had witnessed was moving on with their lives and thinking of how they were going to tell this story to their friends.

I rode away.

As I was riding up 16th (on the sidewalk), my mind drifted through some of the more tragic things I have been hearing of and facing over the past couple of months. The issues I face everyday, Global AIDS, Iraq, Darfur, and the disgusting detainee policies of the US, are the stories of lives ruined. So much death, so much destruction, so much pain. It does not make sense, at least not to me.

From what I gather, life makes sense to some people. At one point I think it made sense to me. Some people believe that everything happens for a reason, that there is a destiny, a plan. I am not there right now. When someone can explain to me why fathers and mothers, sons and daughters are dying everyday in Iraq or Darfur; why a helicopter flying over Nepal carrying eight World Wildlife Federation scientists had to crash killing all eight of them; why my friend's father was shot and killed while standing on his front steps; why those who already struggle daily with the plaugue of poverty must also bear the brunt of disease; why that man riding in front of me had to be hit by a car; when someone can explain those things to me, then maybe I will begin to see that there is some sense in this world, some reason behind the happenings that terrify me.

I was able to ride away from that accident on the side of the road because I saw the driver taking responsibility for his actions and trying to right the wrong he had committed. But I stopped dead in my tracks after a few blocks when I realized that I had no way of knowing that he would follow up on his initial good intentions and trully ensure that the young man got a new bike, got checked up on medically, etc. I should have slipped him my card, I should have done my part to ensure that justice comes to be.

Working towards social justice, for me, begins with confronting the ugly, confronting the injustice, confronting the tragedy in the world. Part of that confrontation is accepting that what you are currently bearing witness to or facing is unjust, but I unfortunately think that in order to be an effective justice worker, you must also anticipate and even expect injustices to come. I saw the man being nice to the victim and assumed he would continue to be so... that makes it easy to walk away. Who wants to expect bad things, to anticipate injustice? I don't. But I don't see any other way to engage with the world around me at this point. I want to work towards social justice, a large part of that is accepting and understanding injustice.

Save Darfur in NYC

2006-09-20T17:37:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I was in New York City working with the UU United Nations Office and the UU Service Committee to organize events surrounding the Save Darfur Rally in Central Park. I stayed with an Intern at the UU-UNO office and his girlfriend - they were wonderful hosts! But the bulk of the visit was spent running around NYC making sure we had all the necessary elements to successfully carry out the UU gathering before the rally at All Souls Church of NY and the march following that gathering up 17 blocks to the actual rally in Central Park.

It was a powerful gathering with representatives from two dozen congregations and many Darfuri persons who came up from Philadelphia. Charlie Clements, the president of the UUSC, spoke at the gathering and then led our march. The rally itself had tons of impassioned speakers and a few musical performances. There were nearly 35,000 in attendance and the Rally made the front page of the New York Times. Over 300 UUs joined in the gathering, march, and rally.

What continues to occur in Darfur is heartbreaking. 450,000 People have died. I know that listing figures does not mean a lot to some people, but my god... that is much larger than the population of my hometown, Cincinnati.

On Monday morning there was a grasstops activist meeting of the Save Darfur Coalition at which a sort of renegade activist passed out a sheet of paper posing the question... "What would you do if five of your closest friends or family were taken to Darfur and could not leave until a UN Force was on the ground?"

It was a tough question and most of the people who were handed the sheet tucked it away and avoided confronting that uncomfortable hypothetical. There was a checklist asking if you would sacrifice your job, your safety, your home, your wealth, your reputation, your career, etc. It was a hard reality to face that if my mother and father, brother and sister, close friends and relatives were stuck in the most violent and deadly region of the globe there is nothing that I wouldn't sacrifice to help them in any way I could, but for the people who are in Darfur all I have truly sacrificed is perhaps a week of my time... for which I have been paid.

Sure, sacrificing my job or my home will not bring a peacekeeping force into Darfur any quicker. But that does not resonate in my gut.

What is happening in Darfur, the raping, the killing, the destroying, is hard to fathom and easy to forget. I think it is especially hard for UUs, who proclaim to believe in the Inherent Worth and Dignity of all Persons, to grasp the fact that what is happening in Darfur can most accurately be described as evil, pure evil.

I am very glad that the Save Darfur Coalition exists and that the UUA is a part of it. While I am working on ten or twelve different things at once, it gives me comfort that there are folks who are giving this their full attention and when they call upon us, we as UUs can rally to their support. If you have ten minutes, please review their website and take action as their website allows.

450,000 have died, 2,000,000 have been displaced, have I known one? What if I had? What would I be willing to sacrifice? What do I do when confronted with evil in the world? I will be asking these questions for sometime to come, and I will continue to push for peace in Darfur. I hope you will join me.

Staff Retreat

2006-09-13T14:29:00.000-04:00

For the last three days I retreated with the Washington Office Staff and the staffs of the Youth Office and the Young Adult and Campus Ministry office. We could be found near Frederick, Maryland at the beautifully bucolic Bishop Clagget Center. We shared our work, our spirits, and our stories. Coming away from that experience I have a great degree of gratitude for the work environment of which I am a part.

I am not going to expand upon the UUA as an employer, but I would like to expand upon Unitarian Universalists as co-workers. While running the risk of stereotyping our population, I would like to say that there is a level of consciousness among UUs that I find both challenging and refreshing. During the retreat we broke into both Gender and Race Identity Development Circles. Sitting with my identity peers (the empowered folks - white and male), I was surprised at the honesty of my peers to recognize their priviledge and the fact that the imbalances of power both within society, within our work environments, and within our souls needs to be addressed and changed. Returning to the larger group and sharing our experiences it is apparent that no matter the identity there is a general agreement that those imbalances need to change. Now this is not to say that we have yet figured out how to do that, but we are recognizing that it has to happen. In doing so we are launching ourselves down a path of trying to stay accountable to historically marginalized populations and in doing so stumbling over our words, squirming in our pants, engaging in emotionally charged discussions about power dynamics, and moaning/groaning about whether or not we are accomplishing anything. What fun!

Beyond the willingness of my colleagues to take a journey into the realities of empowerment, I also admire the lives they have led, the choices they have made, and the depth of who they are. In engaging with these folks I have often felt myself simultaneously welcomed and challenged. I have been able to open up and share my history, make my jokes (not the really off-color ones - but those with a slightly off-hue are generally acceptable), and depart my feelings; and in doing all of that I have seen myself growing and becoming more substantial and confident than I was the day before. I feel empowered and nourished by my work environment. It makes me want to excel, to give of myself, to pitch in and make the UU movement as powerful as it can be. And the more I look around at the world today, we could desperately use a major shift in power....

UU Global AIDS Coalition

2006-08-16T14:22:00.000-04:00

Last week I participated in my fourth Conference Call for the Unitarian Universalist Global AIDS Coalition (UUGAC) board. I participate in a lot of conference calls (in fact the UUGAC call was my third of the day) but very few have the energy and purpose of the UUGAC call. While I am new to the board and have not witnessed its development over the past three years, I am amazed at all that has been accomplished by these dedicated volunteers. In three short years they have developed a website, a newsletter that is circulated to over 90 congregations, they passed an Action of Immediate Witness, and they continue to reach out and network with multitudes of UU Global HIV/AIDS activists in our many congregations. On top of all of that, the members of the board often are their congregations' coordinators for various on-the-ground programs, such as fundraising initiatives, exchange programs, and health oriented projects.

UUs are wonderful grassroots organizers. I am continuously amazed by the work that is being done, almost exclusively by volunteers. I am so encouraged that our faith fosters a spirit of action. Many UUs earnestly believe that if they do not actively work for justice then their faith is empty. We are called to listen to our conscience, such a calling comes with great responsibility. If you take your spiritual guidance from without you can close your eyes and ears and turn your back on the injustices of the world. But when your guidance comes from within it matters not which way you turn, for you are always facing your truth. As hard as that may be, many UUs take on that challenge. For that I am thankful, and for those persons, my fellow persons of faith I will do my best to be true to my religious community and to my personal conscience as I reach out and try to influence the happenings on the hill.

The Ground Truth

2006-07-27T11:46:00.000-04:00

The Ground Truth is an amazing film. Along with Meredith and Elizabeth, I attended a special viewing for members of congress, and anti-war DC activists at the Library of Congress last night. Introduced by the progressive caucus co-chairs Rep. Lynn Woolsey and Rep. Barbara Lee, the film proved to be a moving documentary of the journey of Soldiers deployed to Iraq. Told by the soldiers themselves, the film followed them from recruitment, training, deployment, and finally through their return home. It was a chilling story.

It was amazing to me how effective our military is at taking young men and women and turning them into warriors... into killers. It was equally amazing how inept our military is at turning those warriors back into civilians once their deployment is done.

These soldiers signed up to be heroes, to defend our country, and to bring freedom to the world. But while in Iraq they find themselves in situations where the enemy is not clear, where innocent civilians often get caught in the crossfire, where their bullets too often cause civilians suffering and not security. Returning from that brutal world, they often feel more like monsters than like heroes. Their families do not understand, their communities do not understand, nobody wants to hear the stories of sadness, violence, and tragedy, they simply want to praise these returned soldiers as heroes. This disconnect between community expectations and the feelings within these soldiers’ hearts cause psychological problems that the military is utterly inadequate at addressing.

The soldiers are given a piece of paper when they get off the plane asking if they suffer from PTSD or any other psychological problems... if they check yes, they stay at the base. If they check no, they can go home with their families. Everyone checks no. The military does not follow up on these soldiers returned home. The soldiers themselves often don't seek help until something terrible happens. Until their marriage dissolves, until they wind up in jail, until they destroy their possessions, until suicidal thoughts drive them to a therapist... for some those suicidal thoughts turn into action. These soldiers do not end up in the injured or causality reports, but it is the war that has created that suffering, and it will continue to do so every day that it continues.

The talk about the war in DC is so stunted and shallow that it was hard to connect it with the lives of these soldiers. Whether or not we "stay the course" or "cut and run" we must address humanity. We are dealing with issues of life and death. We are training young men and women to become instinctual killers, we are reprogramming them to kill. Not because they are enraged, but because someone is approaching their vehicle and does not stop when ordered to, because fire is coming from a crowd of people and it is impossible to identify who exactly is shooting so the whole crowd gets shot at, because if they don't kill there is a good chance they will be killed. This is the reality of a soldier in Iraq.

It may be impossible for me to understand a war without having ever served in one, but I am able to understand that this war is both ending and ruining lives. It is an utter disaster. Even if a stable and democratic Iraq emerges it will have a foundation of death, destruction and lies. It is a difficult foundation on which to build, let us hope that no nation will ever have to face such an ugly present as the one Iraq faces today. Let us hope that soldiers will one day receive the REAL support they need when returning home from the tragedy of war. Let us hope that all Americans will put themselves in the boots of soldiers or the shoes of Iraqi Children and reevaluate what is really at stake in this war. Let us hope, always.

For more info on the film visit http://thegroundtruth.net.

General Assembly 2006

2006-06-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

General Assembly was nothing like anything else I have experienced. From Wednesday the 21st until Sunday the 25th over 4,000 Unitarian Universalists gathered in St. Louis, Missouri. Together we worked, learned, prayed and played. UUA officials gave their reports, “breakthrough” congregations gave presentations, dozens of workshops were given on a variety of topics, a Statement of Conscious on Global Warming was debated and then accepted, a Study Action Issue on Peacemaking was adopted, and an exhibition hall was open eight hours a day. Throughout the festivities everyone was very busy, myself included. My time was split between staffing our booth, attending workshops, attending plenary, and attending meetings. While we worked from 8:30am until 8-10pm it was all very rewarding and energizing.

The biggest lesson I learned this weekend, was that I am not alone. UU churches, fellowships, and societies can be found in every state. When thinking of UUism, my visions were always based upon my home congregation, with little thought given to the broader picture and the thousand other congregations that claim UUism as their faith. But during GA I learned that UUism is a movement that can claim many as its followers/leaders, it was absolutely inspiring to be among so many who did. I also learned a great deal about the UUA, seeing how it operates and who the faces are behind the names.

EB, Audra, and Meredith Under the Arch

Here is a funny story: I stayed in the Renaissance Grand Hotel, right across the street from the Convention Center. Many other UUs stayed here, including our President, Bill Sinkford. Throughout the Assembly I found myself in the elevator with Bill three times. The first of those times, was at night after the first plenary. It was a crowded elevator, the highlights of which were Meredith, Elizabeth, Bill and myself. As the door closed and the elevator headed upwards, there was a buzz in the air. Everyone was aware that we were in the elevator with the President. Bill looked around and said, “Are you all coming to the party on the 14th floor?” The buzz in the air quieted and silence met his question. He greeted the silence by saying, “Well I was invited.” Hilarious!!!

That was simply one moment of humor among many. There were many moments throughout the weekend. During Mary Oliver’s readings at the Ware Lecture, many eyes were filled with tears and there was much laughter. During the Sunday morning worship, we were witness to a Minister telling us how welcoming we were and how welcoming we could be. The entirety of the Assembly was focused on Right Relations, and while this may not have been the intent behind the theme, I cannot recall a time when I have been in better relationship with my religion. I am proud to be a UU.

Federal Marriage Amendment

2006-05-31T15:12:00.000-04:00

On Friday night I attended Frozen at the Studio theatre around the block from my house. Afterwards my girlfriend and I went to the Playbill Café for a couple of drinks. As it turned out the Playbill was a gay bar. Kristin and I found ourselves talking politics, when the man sitting next to her leaned over and shared his views of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. His name was Andy and he did not have the most positive things to say about them. As we continued to talk, he shared that he was a staffer for a member of congress. His boss had asked him what his views were on the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which would amend the constitution to allow marriage only between a man and a woman. He told his boss that he had paid his taxes his entire life and saw absolutely no reason that he should be treated as a second-class citizen. A month later, his boss came back to him and told him that he was right.

Earlier that week, I had participated in a Youth Lobby Day on the Federal Marriage Amendment. Along with an intern at the Human Rights Campaign, I visited staffers for our Senators Voinovich and DeWine. DeWine, who is a close ally in my Darfur work, is a co-sponsor of the FMA and consequently an opponent of our stance. Voinovich on the other hand, had no stance, nor, his staffer said, had they even read the amendment. In both meetings we discussed how this amendment would reverse a long trend of amendments expanding rights to citizens. DeWine’s staffer (Ben Franklin – from the UK) explained that the Amendment would not make Gay Marriage illegal, but it would prevent Judges from ruling on gay marriage cases, leaving the power to determine the legality of particular kinds of marriage to the states. I glanced back at the language of the Amendment and realized that if you read it backwards after translating it into Aramaic that was exactly what it said.

I told them stories of my family and friends who would be affected by this amendment and told them stories of how they had already been affected by living in a homophobic society already filled with discrimination and stigma. Andy, from the Playbill, later told me about how gay bars in the eighties and early nineties couldn’t have windows, and how the police would occasionally raid them and arrest everyone. To this day, Andy said he had a record for simply going to the bar. As we talked I could tell he had a lot of resentment and frustration with the system. He was also cynical about the American people. Given his experiences who could blame him? The current legislation does nothing more than exacerbate his wounds.

How should we view the FMA? It can be viewed as a legitimate threat to the expansion of civil rights to the GLBT community. But it can also be viewed as a purely reactionary, panicky, doomed piece of Legislation aimed at stemming the expansion of rights that is already occurring. While it is probably a mixture of both, I would like to believe in the latter. I have faith in the American community. I believe that we are all committed to the expansion of human rights. As the gay community becomes more visible, and people find themselves faced with the reality of their neighbors, their friends, and their family members proudly stating their orientation, and then sadly sharing the limitations they have in entering into a loving commitment with their partners, views will change. I believe that one day a Federal Marriage Amendment will pass through congress that does not limit our love for one another, but that enables it to grow, and grow, and grow.

Network for Spiritual Progressives

2006-05-18T11:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the entire office was empty, but the pews of All Souls Unitarian Church were overflowing. Over 1,000 spiritual Americans were meeting for the east coast founding conference of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. As I sat there, surrounded by Jews, Buddhists, Christians, Unitarians, and Muslims, all committed and enthused to infuse the national landscape with a progressive spirituality, I felt a rush of hope and idealism fueled by the resounding words of the speakers.

Joan Chittister, a nun, riled up the crowd with supreme rhetoric and heartfelt sentiments. Making the classic observation that 10% of the world consumes 2/3rds of the earth’s resources, but then adding, “No wonder they buy so many guns!” And as the crowd of activists approached intoxication with her words, she boldly stated, “A miracle is not when God does something for people, it is when people do the will of God.” She left the pulpit to a rousing standing ovation that lasted for several minutes.

On her coattails rode in Peter Gabel, a Lawyer and head of the Spirituality and Politics Program at the New College of California. He proposed three key elements that the left must implement to address the deep longings for community of the American populace. First, the left must assert its own moral presence. Democrats have good values and visions, but we must be who we are! He pointed out that Bush, in all his imperfections, is authentic and clearly is himself. Second, he suggested that we build a parallel universe filled with a community of relationships giving the left a grounding in community and support during the lonely times. Thirdly, he said we must learn to speak for an agenda that is spiritually compelling. Infusing progressive agendas with moral language. Examples: “Health care is caring for the humanity of peoples.” “Social Security is one of the greatest experiments of humanity, it is the creation of an intergenerational community of caring.” In closing he turned to terrorism, insisting that the best way to address it is to first recognize the humanity of the Muslim People.

At 1:30 Rabbi Michael Lerner, the spearhead of the network, came to the pulpit to make his pitch. Starting by stating, “We must be the embodiment of our highest ideals.” He went on to describe the deep spiritual crisis in America of internalizing the marketplace. After speaking with hundreds of people across America he observed that in the world of work there is a bottom line; that success depends on maximizing money and power and that everyone is out for #1 and so others just become assets. Unfortunately, people also reported that they were taking this mentality home with them, using it in their personal lives, and consequently having surface level, insecure relationships with the people in their lives. He felt there was a deep longing for a spiritual way of thinking. Within relationships it would consist of not thinking about how others will maximize your life, but rather, seeing each other as fundamentally valuable. Politically, he added, the right has managed to nourish and develop this spiritual crisis by creating selfishness, but they have also managed to blame America’s spiritual crisis on others, namely Gays, Lesbians, Women, Blacks, and Hispanics. Meanwhile the left just sits there and does nothing to address the spiritual crisis out of some backward “enlightenment” idea that spirituality is a personal thing and has no place in the public arena. Consequently the left does not address the spiritual crisis in America at all.

Having said all that, Rabbi Lerner laid out the three conference goals, the goals for the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

1) Challenge the miss-use of God by the Right to justify Militarism, the dismantling of social justice and ecological programs, and assaults on the rights of women, gays, and lesbians.
2) Challenge the anti-spiritual biases in some parts of “the Left.”
3) Support a New Bottom Line of kindness, generosity, ecological sensitivity, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe to replace the dominant ethos of selfishness and materialism.

Then he turned to the crowd and asked them to unite around these principals, take them home, expose them, and contribute to a movement of spiritual progressives. It was somewhat uncomfortable in the room full of freethinkers as a man called upon us to unite and move as a connected network. I for one, agree with him. I think we must unite; we must speak loudly and clearly about our spirits and how they fuel our progressive values. I am proud to be both spiritual and progressive and I see absolutely no reason to separate the two.

2006-05-11T17:13:00.000-04:00

Half of my job constitutes working on the Unitarian Universalist India Holdeen Program (UUHIP). If you haven't heard of this program please smack yourself across the face. Now you know how I felt about six months ago when I first started learning about this program. I was shocked that I was a UU and never knew a thing about the amazing work of Kathy Sreedhar and the UUHIP. It is truly a revolutionary program, taking a radical approach to grant making.

The UUHIP works with the most marginalized people of India, the women, the tribals, the lower caste people, and those that fall outside the caste system known as the dalits, formerly the "untouchables". These people have been discriminated against and degraded for thousands of years and even now with a democratic government and laws on the books protecting everyone's rights, the wealthy higher caste people still discriminate and the dalits are disempowered and disillusioned. Many of them live in bonded slavery, having borrowed money from someone of wealth; they are obliged to work for them until their debts are paid. After years of work, sometimes even generations, they have worked enough to pay back their debts numerous times, but they are still enslaved, with no rights and no future.

But there is hope for the marginalized people of India! Charismatic and fearless leaders have come forth over the past thirty years. They have worked tirelessly to organize the dalits, to give them a voice, and to teach them to use it at the right time, in an effective way, and pointed in the proper direction. These leaders are enabling bonded laborers to walk away from their bondage and believe that they are truly free. These leaders are organizing young dalits and women to approach government and demand that they provide universal primary education as the laws say they should. These leaders are standing up to the upper caste thugs who crack down on the dalits as they press for their rights. Where once the upper caste could beat and murder those from a lower caste, now they are facing charges and jail time. These leaders are receiving international acclaim, and their programs on the ground are growing and thriving. These Indian leaders and their organizations are supported by the UUHIP. Through unrestricted funding, consul, and strategic support the UUHIP has affected thousands of lives over the past 20 years. Throughout that entire period Kathy Sreedhar has traveled twice a year to India fostering meaningful relationships with the many leaders in the fight to ensure that all people are treated equally and that all people believe that they themselves have dignity and worth.

This past weekend I took part in the UUHIP board meeting. We met at Kathy’s house on Friday night and enjoyed an Indian feast with the seven of us and a representative (and friend of Kathy’s) from the Fund for Global Human Rights. It was a fascinating evening with conversation diving deep into the issues affecting the many different states of India. On Saturday we met for six hours at the office to conduct the business of the twice-yearly board meeting. It was invigorating to be a part of that board. Everyone on it was completely invested in the project, caring about its success, and protective of its partners in India and of its director Kathy. I have taken part in other board meetings, and it is not every board that has members such as John Summers, the current chair, who has written a book called “Empowering the Oppressed”, which details the work of the UUHIP and its partners in India.

Coming away from the board meeting it was resolved that I would initially work on collecting content for the website, reorganizing it in the process. So I spent the greater part of this week reading through what we have and thinking about how to beef it up. It has been fascinating to read through all of these materials detailing the importance of working on human rights issues. There is a lot of international discussion about development and all to often human rights issues take a back seat. A question asked by human rights workers would be, what good is a water pump bringing water to a village if half the village is considered “unclean” or “untouchable” and is unable to access that water? The work is tough, as its focus is on changing society, specifically individuals’ hearts and minds. But the UUHIP and its partners have been working very hard doing precisely that for the past twenty years. I feel blessed to be able to journey with them for at least the next two.

First Day - Darfur Rally

2006-05-09T16:10:00.000-04:00

A week ago Sunday I was gathered on the national mall with tens of thousands of fellow citizens dedicated to ending the genocide in Darfur. It was a loud and visible demonstration, bringing much attention to a humanitarian crisis that desperately needs to be brought into the spotlight. I had never been in such a large demonstration, nor such a diverse one.

The day after the rally I gathered with thirteen other ohioans and visited our senators on the hill, urging them to do all they can to end the violence in Darfur. The Lobby Day was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, the same folks who had put together the rally. Once the thirteen of us were gathered we developed a strategy to use throughout the morning. As it turns out, the women who introduced us, was a member of the Sister City Relationship between Cincinnati and Harare, Zimbabwe, a project I had previously worked on. The two policy pushers, who made our specific requests on the legislation (that a full $173 million be given to create a UN force, that a special envoy to Darfur be established by the president, and to make sure that enough food aid is given), one of them was from Morrow, Ohio - the hometown of My lovely Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill, and the other man was from Hudson, Ohio and attended the same Catholic Church of My Uncle Mike and my lovely Aunt Margaret... It is such a small world!

I was assigned the role of making a personal, passionate appeal to the Legislator's Assistants meeting with us. I shared the words of a Marine who had spoken at the Rally and how he had been sent to Darfur to take pictures and record, as best he could, the state of the region. He said that when he landed he was greeted by a mob of Darfurians who believed that America had come to help, that behind him would follow the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. He saw so much hope in their eyes that America was truly going to help. I spoke about how I had seen hope come back into the lives of the Sudanese refugee families that were hosted in Cincinnati by my home congregation, the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. As we received them, validated them, helped them find jobs and homes, you could sense them coming back to life. Believing in themselves, and in a brighter future. That is the gift that America has to offer to the world, and it is our responsibility to see that it is so.