Let's Talk: To the people who aren't interested in politics. Re: HERO

Politics are boring and messy: you have to listen to a bunch of rhetoric surrounding people's personal life and understand the political vernacular they use to talk about topics that may or may not be important to you all while trying to hold you're attention. I get it.

This week, we had a local election here in Houston in which the Houston Equal Right's Ordinance didn't pass. I, honestly, didn't think I would care so much. Yeah, I voted. Yeah, I voted to pass it. But because of my conscious and subconscious thoughts fighting against each other so much, I feel like I let my community down. Consciously, I was upset because the people who were preaching "Vote Yes" seemed to hardly ever reach out to gay men/ transwomen of color. Subconsciously, I knew that men of color in my generation (especially black, gay men) don't go out to vote in large numbers. The most devastating of the two was the fact that I have been blessed with a reach inside this community and did nothing with it. I sincerely apologize.

Over this past day, I have been sitting here pondering on the idea of why we don't vote even though it is absolutely essential. Here's what I came up with and this is my hopeful advice to keep us from not going to the polls.

1. Our victim mentality continues to say we don't matter.

I read a post yesterday expressing the difference between being a victim and playing the victim. Playing a victim according to the post was consistently saying how you are inadequate and upset because of all the bad things that have happened to you. Being a victim is accepting that you had a hard road but that you are the one that can change it. We have got to understand that our lives are precious and that we mean something. I know you are saying, "Well, how in the hell can voting empower me to come out of victimhood?" Politics are the source of change; ordinances, laws and elected candidates detail the parameters in which we can live, play, work and survive. A major facet of a true rise above victimization are politics.

2. The people who are on our side never speak to us.

This one does concern me, but we truly do have advocates out there that have worked tirelessly to be our voices-- some of my colleagues, mentors and friends included. The issue is we need people who can stand in the gap. This is where I failed. Advocates and activists have to focus so hard on being our faces that they can't always be relatable. Disseminating information is difficult when, while you are giving out the information, there will be no faces like us at these meetings to bring our issues to the table. We need to organize people to be able to relate this information to our people-- and that can start with you and me.

3. We don't believe our vote counts.

Now, honestly one vote doesn't "count" in terms of changing an election, but our collective vote can do something great. When it comes to our rights, discrimination, funding for initiatives that are necessary for us (healthcare, youth initiatives, education, etc), we have to be present. We can't complain about getting stopped by police meaninglessy, brutality, bad roads, discrimination at work and in society and then sit at home on election night with our legs crossed. We don't count if we don't vote.

4. We don't understand the importance or the platforms of these elections.

Let's be honest. For a vast amount of us, we weren't raised knowing the importance of voting. We weren't raised watching CNN and MSNBC. For a lot of us, we don't watch it now. So, it's an easy assumption that we don't know what we would even be voting for. We have become a very reactive society. When you think about healthcare, discrimination, shootings or any one of the myriad of unfortunate situations that happen to us as gay/ transwomen of color it takes for us to get mad before we even consider action. Then, that action only lasts for a small amount of time while we still see these issues in the media. We have to not only be more proactive, but sacrifice a little time and educate ourselves and our social circles about the different issues going on in these elections.

Being raised in a Southern, black family, I was taught you don't talk about religion, politics or finances with friends because it can destroy a friendship. I believed that for a long time. What I came to find out was that not talking about it was giving everyone else the power to make decisions for me and everyone else around me. Let's be more proactive in this reactive situation. Educate, empower and get active. I will be taking my own advice, too.

Below is more information to read from one of my colleagues and mentors, Ashton Woods, and a good invite to a meeting I think we need to be seen at.

http://ashtonpwoods.strengthinnumbershouston.com/

HYSD: What's Next for LGBT Houston?

- The Normal Anomaly