Apathy. Not that I care.

Even with 63% of the state of Florida voting in FAVOR of Amendment 2, we are still having problems getting people to give a crap about fighting for equal rights. It's appalling the lack of interest we have at planning meetings.

Last night I went to a One Orlando meeting to help plan events for the next two months. Considering that Orlando has a metro population of over 2 MILLION people. Yet we had a turnout of around 30 people. The LOTTERY has better odds!

Yes, I understand that there are not 2 million LGBT people in the Orlando metro, but I KNOW there's more than 30. I just simply do not understand how so many people can just roll over and take this kind of abuse. How is it that so many people can be so apathetic about their rights??

The very idea that a large segment of our LGBT population has decided that they are OKAY with being treated as second class citizens is simply beyond my comprehension. Yes I get that being "out" is scary. I've been scared back into my closet on numerous occasions. I get that being a public figure is even scarier. It's similar to having a bullseye tattoed to your forhead. It also didn't turn out very well for Harvey Milk. I GET all that.

Yet there are people who, day after day, go into the world as openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people. I am one of those people. I'm extremely open about being bisexual. I wear LGBT shirts and my car has a "Blatantly Bisexual" sticker in the back window so that everybody knows that they have a neighbor who is a part of the LGBT community.

I know that not everyone is ready to come out. Some people have extenuating circumstances that prohibit them from being THAT open about their sexuality. That, however is a small percentage of the population. My feeling is that if those who are closeted would be more open then more people would see that we really are just like everyone else.

And so, I will end this entry with one of my favorite quotes: Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.