Open Letter to Sen. Feinstein

Senator Feinstein:

In the current edition of Out Magazine, there is a feature by Michael Joseph Gross on his experience on the set of MILK and his interaction with the actors portraying the characters in the film. There is one paragraph that stood out HUGELY to me:

Milk was the Barack Obama of his time and place. When he ran for the board of supervisors, Milk made grand promises to heal deep social tensions in his city. At his swearing-in, he said, "A true function of politics is not just to pass laws, but to give hope." Dianne Feinstein, then president of the board, responded, "Hope is fine, but you can't live on hope."

That pessimism seems to still be a large factor in your leadership style, even when it is desperately needed. At a time when Prop 8 hangs in the balance and threatens to deal an enormous setback to the fight for equality for the LGBT community, politicians have been silent for far too long. One of those politicians is you.

Your statement opposing Prop 8 is insufficient and borders on disrespect to our community. You announced the murder of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone to the world from the steps of San Francisco City Hall. You have not only seen first-hand the horror that results from discrimination, but have had to deal with its aftermath.

That you have not joined with the campaign to actively and vocally oppose this awful assault on civil equality is shameful. At a time when a film about Harvey Milk is about to be released to the widest audience ever and is generating a significant amount of Oscar buzz, I hope you will find it within your soul to actively join the fight to defeat Prop 8.

Your political career was catapulted by the death of one of our icons and heroes. It's time you honored Harvey Milk and your own place in history by giving voice to what he would say about Prop 8 if he were not savagely taken from us that fateful day in 1978. Paraphrasing your own words, we can't just hope Prop 8 won't pass... we need 'all hands on deck' to defeat it, including you.

Humbly submitted with Hope and Respect,

Lane Hudson

Follow Lane Hudson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tlanehudson

Comments

[lbolle]

Feinstein has been an affront to her constituents for the past eight years now. She's Lieberman-Light. Which is why I'm not voting for her again. And I hope others do the same. She has no spine or any ability to flush the DC kool aid from her bloodstream. Out now!

[xilishx]

I could not agree with you more.

I have been over her for a long time. My votes are reflecting that!

[oldmilitant]

I hear you. I've been calling Sen Feinstein a "DINO"(Democrat-in-name-only) since she voted for war against Iraq.

[kwalla101]

You got that 100% right. Let's hope there's a strong challenge in the primary next time she's up for re-election. My money and time will be devoted to getting her out of office.

[nohobear]

Don't waste your breath. Feinstein has never been a friend to the LGBT community. She has used it when politically useful, but is basically a republican in democratic disguise. I lived in San Francisco when she was mayor, she showed her true colors (republican red) on many occasions.
The turning point for me has been this last year, when our country needed patriots, and she rubberstamped Bush's FISA wish list, tabled voting reform on her committee to 2012 (because "it would have been chaotic to address it for the 2008 elections" ), and along with Chuck Schumer, held the key votes that gave us another corrupt Attorney General.

Conventional wisdom holds that she will not run for re-election because of her age. If she does, I look forward with great pleasure to working for her opponent, and voting against her (assuming voting has any meaning by then).

While we're cleaning house and cutting out the republican cancer, let's sweep Congress of Democrats IN Name Only too.

[politicofree4all]

For all you supposedly anti-prop 8, do you also support polygamous marriages? Do you really support equal rights for everyone? No. You're bigots just like everyone else.

[DMHopper]

As long as all parties are of the age of majority and legally competent to make decisions for themselves, I don't see why any citizen should be prohibited from entering into legal arrangements of their own free will.

[tuttlemsm]

"You're bigots just like everyone else."

...On Earth-71, perhaps.

Here on Earth-Prime, the people in favor of equal civil rights are the progressive activists. The people against equal civil rights are the bigots.

[SiliconN]

Excellent Point! can't agree more!

[racetoinfinity]

"....for polygamous marriages?" That's a perfect example of a STRAW MAN argument. Look it up, if you don't know what it is.

[AdamX]

I don't like Feinstein - I'll gladly vote her out. That being said, you ENTIRE premise is wrong regarding prop 8: " At a time when Prop 8 hangs in the balance and threatens to deal an enormous setback to the fight for equality for the LGBT community"

Marriage law has NOTHING to do with equality. Gay couples should have all the rights and benefits of non-gay couples. What has that to do with "marriage"?

[antaeus]

When my L.A. apartment building caught fire two years ago, I stood in the street thinking that many of my possessions would be lost due to the fact that my partner of 18 years and I were denied renter's insurance by our auto carrier. Why? They wouldn't cover an apartment occupied by "unrelated persons."

Making same-sex couples jump through hundreds of special legal hoops in order to cobble together some kind of legal shield is an impractical burden, and as my insurance example points out, it's not always possible to achieve the legal protections of marriage even when you are smart enough and have the means and time to attempt it.

[DMHopper]

Yes, "Separate But Equal" is a fine and proud legal tradition in the United States of America, and it has worked marvelously in every instance in which it has been applied. <&frasl;sarcasm&gt;

[SiliconN]

Agree! State law should exclude the word "marriage" from its vocabulary and treat any union between adults equally.

Leave "Marriage" to where it belongs - religion.

[Steamboater]

Feinstein helped give us Mukasey. What do you expect?

[scoundrel]

The senior senator from the most populous state in the union has shown herself to have an alarming lack of both backbone and integrity. It's criminal that such a person represents this great state that I was born in, live in, and love. Unfortunately, her money, name recognition, incumbency, and political "machine" make it highly unlikely that she will be voted out of office. For my part, she will never get a vote from me again.

[kellygrrrl]

don't even bother trying to reason with DiFi. let's just get rid of her ASAP!

Please, everyone, donate to EQCA and No on 8 groups!

The people from Utah have infiltrated our state and are attempting to spread their H8

[shadowgm]

Perhaps Feinstein has forgotten that her own political career was basically launched on the bodies of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, as she became mayor in the wake of their deaths.

Or maybe she's taken her lumps for blocking the homeporting of the USS Missouri in SF. That essentially opened the door for a guy named Dick Cheney to start closing military bases throughout the SF Bay Area.

I don't demand perfection from my elected representatives, but the past eight years have put an entirely new light on Feinstein's politics, and she won't be getting my vote if she runs for re-election.

[LiberalBuzz]

Prop 8 has a strong possibility of losing due to the hate and lies being spewed by the so called Christians who obviously forgot about the commandment THOU SHALT NOT LIE or whatever it is. Lies are okay I guess if you are a christian who wants to keep the country in the middle ages.

I listened to a radio spot on 1070 KNX that was nothing but lies and fear tactics. "your kids will be forced live gay lifestyles, churches will be forced to conduct gay marriages, schools will have to be forced to give gay lifetstyle classes" and on and on and on.

SUCH lies I was almost screaming at the radio.

I wrote KNX 1070 a letter when I got home and emailed it to them asking them if the few bucks they were making off of all those lies was worth it to help destroy gay lives.

[oldmilitant]

I believe you are referring to the Ninth Commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness".

[darthmaul]

With all the real problems the people in California face, it's astonishing that they would think that it's important that we deny gay people the right to Marry. Don't worry about people that are hungry, unemployment, crime and the deteriorating condition of our schools. No worry about some abstract construct like Marriage and waste time, money and passion on it.

[mrsbigg]

I wished I lived in California so I could help defeat this sad step backward. You have the support and hope of a midwest mom Lane. We met at the Yearly Kos in Chicago, I am so impressed with your passion and writing. Sen. Feinstein shame on you for not being out there for your constituents.

[kellygrrrl]

you can help.
The Yes campaign is being run by Utah M's -- they have raised 25 mil and have infiltrated our state. They stand in front of schools every morning handing out the H8 lit.
They stand out like a sore thumb here, look like they are aliens from HowdyDoodyPlanet.

WE have raised 16 mil. EQCA has a big fundraiser tonight. Donate! The last two weeks WE must launch full-scale attack!

Thanks for your support!

[HawaiiBill]

You CAN help mrsbigg even though you don't live in California. Make sure you talk to your friends that live there and help them understand. Send a donation to the media campaign. This fight is simply about civil rightss and we can't just it back and hope others will "take care of it". Even my VERY conservative Catholic brother and sister-in-law have sent $25 to stop what they believe is wrong. Fair-minded people like you mrsbigg can tip the balance. Thank you for your support!

[FZliveson]

Milk: "A true function of politics is not just to pass laws, but to give hope."
Feinstein: "Hope is fine, but you can't live on hope."
Both were correct.

I'm FOR Prop 8 and I have a beloved sister and several close LGBT-friends who are also FOR prop 8.
We need to stop breaking down of the cornerstones of our society; respect, religion, free speech, borders, language, culture. By constanty looking at everything as "needing change" we have no foundation under our society.
Stop the relentless whining about equality. A sufficiently well-worded "domestic partner"
definition could be crafted so the traditional institution of marriage does not have to be
downgraded by including people of deviant* sexual behavior.

* Deviant: "Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society"

[Lane Hudson - Huffpost Blogger]

It is in the best tradition of our country to ensure that our laws treat all people equally.

Sexuality is not a choice. This is not just my position, but the position of the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and many other professional groups of people whose opinions we trust for setting standards of care for society.

You'll hear no whining coming from my direction. But, I'll stand up and forcefully advocate for what is right every single day.

PS -- Please look at www.crisisbook.org. This is a book that if you read it, would completely change the way you see issues of civil equality for gays. You should understand what your words mean to a young person struggling to understand his or her sexuality. For you to say that they are 'deviant' pushes them further into a crisis of isolation, depression, and possibly worse. Acceptance and equality are not just political ideas, they're incredibly important to millions of people.

[EZKY]

with due respect, the "not a choice" defense of gay rights is really a cop-out.

In a democracy, we are free to make our own sexual choices and still deserve protections. That's the case we need to be making.

Virtually *nothing* in this world is strictly "nature" or "nurture" -- there's no reason to think we need to be make "gayness" miraculously involuntary. Doing so actually makes it seem like there's something wrong with being gay--that it's "not our fault."

My own position is that I am queer by choice -- and *still* deserve legal protections in a democracy.

[LiberalBuzz]

IF you actually expect anyone to believe that all your gay friends or family members are FOR Prop 8 you need to stop smoking whatever it is you are smoking.

The gay community has long said that is a false statement made by people who like to pretend gay people do NOT want the same rights as everyone else in the hopes of getting people to not care. "Well if the gay people don't want it then I won't vote for it.".

So stop with the B S.

[ProudLiberalDan]

I love these homophobes who come here and talk about their "close LGBT friends" who support throwing away their inalienable right to happiness and any equality under the law. Utter bogusity.

If this person has any "close" LGBT friends with any self-esteem, they don't know how this person actually feels.

And I'm not "whining". I'm standing up to bigotry. Sorry if that's inconvenient. Well, I'm not really sorry. I'm glad it is inconvenient to homophobes.

[racetoinfinity]

The society I live in and want to live in accepts gays and lesbians as completely equally worthwhile members, who happen to have a different sexual orientation, the same way some people have blue eyes. I don't want to live in an dark ages society ruled by superstition and fear of "the other".

[TeddySanFran]

You are right, Lane.

She needs to campaign for the defeat of Prop 8.

She and her wealthy husband also need to give a LARGE donation to No On Prop 8.

[darthmaul]

Feinstein and Boxer for that matter, are reactive politicians. Be it fires, or ships running into the bay bridge. Boxer and Feinstein will hold hearings on the matter after the fact, and that's it. None of them show leadership. And Feinstein is the worst, because she was lockstep with the republicans on the FISA BILL. Senator Feinstein is the closest we will get to a female version of Senator Joseph Lieberman. She is a democrat in name only.

[MagisterLudi]

"And Feinstein is the worst, because she was lockstep with the republicans on the FISA BILL."

Obama voted lockstep with Republicans on Bush Tort Reform and Cheney's Energy Bill.
Does this make his a Democrat in name only? Your Republican-style attack a respected member of Democratic party makes you a Democrat in-name- only. Think about it.

[darthmaul]

Voting is one thing. Actively supporting and sponsoring republican style bills is another. See if you can find a pattern.

"Feinstein was the original Democratic cosponsor of a bill to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. In a December 2005 statement, Senator Feinstein stated, "I believe the Patriot Act is vital to the protection of the American people."[24] She was the main Democratic sponsor of the failed 2006 constitutional Flag Desecration Amendment.[25] In November 2007, Feinstein was one of only six Democrats to vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General.[26]"

"While on the MILCON subcommittee, Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions of dollars to firms owned by her husband, Richard C. Blum.[5] This included millions of dollars in contracts awarded to Blum's Perini Corporation to provide goods and services in Iraq and Afghanistan.[38]"

Note: The controversy got so bad in th MILCON subcomitte that Feinstein had to resign.