Which part?
The population of Oregon is centered around the Portland metro area, the I 5 corridor and the coast. The rest of the state is conservative to burn em witch hunters.
Unfortunately even in the liberal areas there is just enough neo-cons to sway votes statewide. In local referendums or city/county voting the liberal vote hold sway. The problem with any voter turnout is apathy, ignorance or bigitory. The key to turning any vote around is educating those who are undecided. I actually had a person say "I don't know any gay people"
This is copied from a speech by Dallas Denny.
We are the Transgendered. We are your sons and daughters, your fathers and mothers, your cousins, your aunts and uncles, your grandparents, your grandchildren. We are your stepfathers and stepsons, your stepmothers, your stepdaughters. We are your adopted children and your adoptive parents, and we are the parents who have given you up for adoption.
We are your neighbors and friends. We were your dorm-mate in college, your fraternity brother, your sorority sister. We were in the Cub Scouts with you, in Brownies, in the Air Force, the Marines. We are your bosses, your employees. We work next to you on the assembly line. We drive your cabs, your buses, your taxis. We fly your planes, we sail your ships, we drive your locomotives. We deliver your paper, stock the shelves in your groceries, ring up your purchases.
We style your hair. We press your suits. We design your suits. We cook your food in restaurants and we bring it to your table. We build your cars in Detroit. We have stood on the moon. We were at Shiloh and Gettysburg. In the Great War we fought in the trenches and flew against the Red Baron, and now we live in our old age in Veterans Hospitals. We were at Iwo Jima, and were in Korea and Viet Nam and Kuwait.
We remember riding with Genghis Khan. We saw Jesus Christ.
We fill your schools. We are your principles, your teachers, your students, your librarians, the ones who sweep the halls. We write your textbooks. We are your politicians, your farmers, your physicians, your priests, your nuns, your generals. And we are the privates in your armies, your prostitutes. We languish in your prisons. And we are the guards and wardens of your prisons, too. We are the little boy with red hair who mows your yard every summer. We are the cop who gave you a ticket last night. We are the little old lady in the next pew at church.
We stand on your left side, and on your right, before you, and behind you. We came before you, and we will come after you. We are black, we are white. We are young, we are old. We are fat, we are thin. We are poor, we are rich. We are healthy, we are ill. We are straight, we are gay. We are male, we are female.
We are the Transgendered. We have always been with you. We will always be with you.
If she knew how many friends and family were, her opinions might be different and the possibility of her influencing others could grow. Her children might grow up respecting that diversity is not to be looked down upon but be celebrated.
Only you can judge what is best for you as an individual, but your actions or lack thereof affect all.
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Leigh
