Lobby Day

On Wednesday, my co-workers and I boarded a bus and headed off to Jefferson City, the state capitol. PROMO organizes this annual lobby day so that our legislators can see and meet their GLBT constituents and look us in the face and, sometimes, call us disgusting.

Senator Delbert Scott called these two men "disgusting."

I’m not kidding. Senator Delbert Scott told some of his constituents, “what you (gays) do is disgusting.” The day before, my state Senator, Pat Dougherty, voted for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. Two years ago, he marched beside me at the Gay Pride Parade. Guess we’re good enough to get him elected, just not good enough to marry.

Fellow Vital VOICE staffer Pamela Merritt and Robin Wright-Jones

Not everyone is so evil or hypocritical. My new Rep, Robin Wright-Jones said that discrimination is discrimination is discrimination, and she wasn't having any part of it. I wanted to hug her after feeling so disappointed and down-right angry with the way so many of us were treated by our elected officials. Some Senators and Representatives flat-out refused to see us.

If you live in Missouri and you don’t know who your Senator or Representative is, you can look him or her up at PROMO’s website. Give ‘em a holler. After all, your taxes pay their salary.