I am still having trouble understanding how someone so 'interested in reaching beyond the choir - into communities that have not had the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people' would be such a vocal supporter of an initiative which actively excludes many of these supporters, seeks to constitutionally declare the gay and lesbian population of Arizona as second-class citizens, and has the potential to cause serious harm to the relationship status of every transgender individual seeking to have a legal status for their relationship.
Perhaps if it was not on the heels of this recent action, the request that the LGBT community show up at an event but not appear to be gay, so as not to offend the organizers (of which you are not one), would not have been judged so harshly. Did the organizers ask you to ask the LGBT community to change their behavior in any way, or did you make the decision on your own that you should offer the directive because it is likely that many of us would not know how to act or what to say if we ventured out into the straight world?
If we dress OK, would it be too gay of us to explain to any of our new friends how harmful the Arizona
Civil Partnership Initiative would be to the LGBT population of Arizona, and ask them to not support it? Or have you already explained to them how much the LGBT population of Arizona wants this initiative, and why they need to support it.
If anyone currently involved in the fight for LGBT equality took another day off work to attend a rally for one of the Latino causes so dear to your heart, would that give us enough credibility with you that you would actually listen to us? What do we have to do?