"Shake It Off and Move Forward"

That's the advice offered in a post on Bilerico that reflects on the aftermath of Amendment 2's passage in Florida.


This isn't the time to sit quietly by and shrug our shoulders at another loss for the LGBT community in our state. We need our statewide leaders and organizations to step up and galvanize our community and our allies.

And these protests need to extend to the groups (like the Florida Republican Party, the Catholic League, the Baptist League, and many other groups) that gave money and support to Amendment 2. We need to hold politicians accountable- like Governor Crist and others- and make sure there are consequences for their support of hate and bigotry.


We also need to be having conversations like this- figuring out where we went wrong and how we overcome it. Not in closed door meetings with the same leaders that ran these campaigns, but with the entire community.


I also think we need to be proactive. We cannot wait for the religious right to take this to court and try to take away more of our rights. We need to be shaping the argument now.


One thing is clear- we cannot keep sitting idly by while more of our rights are taken away. We had our time to mourn this loss, but now it's time to shake it off and move forward.


We need to regroup, get tough, and keep fighting.


It angers me that, in this day and age, there is still a group of people in this country that have to fight for basic rights that the rest of the population can take for granted, but that is the current reality.


I strongly agree with the points that oppoents of equality need to be held accountable and feel political and PR pain of their choice. It is also critically important that LGBT people don't let themselves slip into a victim mentality. That certainly would not be unjustified, but it also would not be constructive.

Utlimately the victory will not be won until people's hearts and minds are changed to where they truly accept LGBT people as equal members of society. We've seen laws changed and then changed back--that's how you can control behavior to some extent. It's when attitudes change that there can be a lasting victory and end the constant struggle and threat of having something taken away.


We need to follow Jesus' example here. He didn't come to Earth to pass legislation, he came to change hearts and lives of people so individuals could build His kingdom. He didn't leave His work to lawmakers and we shouldn't either.

Click here to read the entire Bilerico post.