The Hell-Fire Flames of Bigotry

While writing my last post, I was reminded of Rep. Senfronia Thompson's amazing speech against the Texas homophobic marriage amendment. In case you missed it, here are the highlights:

Members, this bill is about hate and fear and discrimination. I know something about hate and fear and discrimination. When I was a small girl, white folks used to talk about "protecting the institution of marriage" as well. What they meant was if people of my color tried to marry people of Mr. Chisum's color, you'd often find the people of my color hanging from a tree. That's what the white folks did back then to "protect marriage." Fifty years ago, white folks thought inter-racial marriages were a "threat to the institution of marriage."
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I had to live with the fear that getting too uppity could get you killed --- or worse. I know what third-class citizenship feels like. In my first term, one of my colleagues walked up and down this aisle muttering about how Nigras should be back in the field picking cotton instead of picking out committees.
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Mr. Chisum is a person who I consider my good friend and revere. But, I want you to know that this amendment is blowing smoke to fuel the hell-fire flames of bigotry.

I truly wish I'd been in the chamber to hear that one. That was one hell of a speech. I hope that a decade or two from now, it's being read out loud at pride festivals and diversity celebrations. I hope that it goes down as one of the great moments of Texas political oratory.

Which made me think about doing something to help ensure that speech its place in history. And I'm going to ask you for help. I'm posting a link labeled "Gay Marriage" to Rep Thompson's speech in my sidebar. If you've noticed the "Intelligent Design" link that's already there, this one is meant to work the same way. Google ranks pages partially by the number links that point to them. So every link labeled "Gay Marriage" that points to that speech makes it more likely to show up when someone Googles "Gay Marriage."

What you can do is simple. Either make a similar link a permanent part of your blog or web page, or at least include a link to it in a post today. You can even encourage others to do the same. If nothing else, I figure Rep. Thompson deserves a little fame for her courage and eloquence, and I'd like to do my little part to help make that happen.