Rev. Briget's closing speech at the rally for family fairness, February 13, 2005

Hello!  I’m Rev. Briget Nicholson, I am a thirty-something, middle class white Christian lesbian.  I moved to Tucson one year ago to serve the amazing community of First Congregational United Church of Christ as their pastor.  They called me into service because they decided that this is the day they were going to begin living their justice.  We represent the progressive, Christian left and we are working to make this our day!  We are tired of hearing about the “moral majority” as if we’re not part of it.  We are tired of people mis-representing our faith and turning an Unconditionally Loving God whose main commandment is to love into a small, judgmental puppet who spews anger and fear.  This community of First is ready to make this the day for justice for all families.

One of the first political events that I attended in Tucson was this rally one year ago.  There was a man who was present with a sign that said, “Keep your religion off my civil rights.”   I am proud to say my religion helped create, support, and sustain the belief in civil liberties, civil rights and justice for all.  And, it is with this tenacious faith that I come here to speak at this rally today.  This is the day and we need to seize it.  We need to use this moment to begin to tell truths about who we are as citizens of this country and what America is to us.

Seize this moment and look around.  Look into the eyes of those standing around you.  Queer community.  I recognize there are churches out there threatening and causing harm to our community.  However, I can assure you, there are communities of faith working just as hard to build and create safe, open and affirming places for all of our families.  It is true.  We believe so heartily in civil rights, we have allowed our opponents to speak very loudly and over the top of our voices.  However, this is the day when we are stepping up our own volume.  It matters not how or where they attack - our right for legal marriages, to have recognized family rights, or the cartoon characters on television - we will make our voices heard.  This is the day we begin shouting for justice for all families.  It’s not enough to be polite, to hear the other side of things, this is the day we must seize, for we’ve been silent way too long.

How many straight allies are here today?  Queer community how thankful are we that the straight allies are here!  Come on!  We are thrilled!  You know why?  Because it’s going to take all of us.  My community of faith is filled with straight allies.  They are working tirelessly to understand, support, learn the stories of the LGBT community, and they are committed to creating a world where all families have equal rights.  Straight allies, you need to look around.  Look around at all of these families gathered here and seize this day.  Your work is to gather all the people you know and spread the word about what you saw here today and the stories that you heard.  You hold power and have voices that weigh more than our own.  We need you to exercise your powerful vocal chords, your typing fingers, your protest bodies on behalf of all families.  There are plenty of straight folks out there using their voices to proclaim a different kind of America.  We need you, our precious Straight allies, to proclaim this is the day and remind this country of the civil rights we’ve come to cherish in this sweet land of liberty.  It is time to seize the day!

Queer community, we need to put our time, our effort, our dollars behind this effort to protect ourselves.  We must seize this day.  We will no longer be victimized.  We can demand our civil rights.  We must be creative, daring, and courageous but united so they cannot deny our presence.  We must begin advocating for ourselves beyond our tight-knit circles and into the world, for it’s going to take more numbers than we currently have.  And, as hard as it  is to use our voices, because of that evil homophobia, this is the day when it counts.  Each day between now and 2006 we must wake up in the morning and believe that this is the day we will seize for civil rights!  This is the day we are going to spread the message to one more family.  This is the day that we are going to secure one more vote that will protect our precious families from hate.  This is the day we’re going to figure out how to raise $100 to fight this hate filled legislation.  This is the day we’re going to volunteer to phone call people.  This is the day that we are going to link our arms with two others allowing us to cover three times as much ground.  For this is the day.  This is the day that our children, our partners, our lovers, our daughters, our sons, our selves can proclaim as the beginning of the battle that won us our Civil Rights!  Let’s Seize THIS DAY!!

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