I'm upset right now, and I'd like to express it. You're welcome to reject my expression of emotion, but I ask that you give it the benefit of the doubt and at least read it.
Even if you don't know me.
I'm in a fraternity at Johns Hopkins - Phi Kappa Psi. Last year, we accepted the first openly gay pledge brother into a fraternity at the university. It was kind of a big deal considering the stereotypes and realities of the fraternity system and fraternity life. Needless to say, I was extremely proud to be a Phi Psi.
Every year I give a speech to the incoming pledges.
We pay dues, I tell them. We perform philanthropy. We run social events, community service events, and meetings. All of the brothers are expected to participate in these events as well as pay their dues/perform their philanthropy hours.
But they're expected to do so much more. Just having the numbers on paper means nothing. Just wearing the letters on your hoodie means nothing. You show your love for your fraternity by giving a part of your life to it - to your brothers - by caring about them the same way you would care about yourself.
I'm going to give a different comment at meeting this week.
I'm disgusted with my country right now.
"Leave," one of them will tell me.
"Move to another country," another will say.
But I'm not here to care about myself. I'm not here to salute a flag and pay my taxes.
I remain in this country because I want it to be something great - for everyone else. I love my country - not because I love a flag, or a war, or a document. Not because I love a piece of land, or a dream, or a hope.
I love the people in this country. I love their lives. I love their rights, their privileges, their opportunities.
220 years ago a group of straight, white, privileged males signed a document which stated that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These men didn't love a plot of land. They didn't love taxes, or leadership, or a flag. They loved their fellow citizens. In a time where communication meant 'a man on a horse', they loved 2.5 million people that they had never met. Never spoken to. Weren't related to. People to whom they owed nothing. People other than themselves
This is patriotism. This is giving back to your country
I remain in this country because I want every single person to have the same rights as me. The same privileges. The same opportunities. The same education. The same health care. The same quality of life that this country has afforded to me because I was fortunate enough to be born a straight privileged white male.
Not because I know them or am related to them. Not because I owe them something.
But because every single person in this country deserves the same rights by virtue of being alive.
What happened in Maine yesterday was a fucking disgrace. And I am calling out anyone in this country who supports this oppression. Anyone in the state of California who voted for Prop 8; anyone in Maine who voted for Prop 1; anyone in Washington who voted against Referendum 71 - any person in this country who votes against the rights/education/health care/opportunities of their fellow citizens - and then turns around and salutes a flag and calls themselves a patriot is a fucking fraud.
I love, support, and stand behind every single person who reads this diary and every single person who doesn't -
simply because you're alive.