Reflections from the Campaign Kickoff
On Saturday, Senator Gulick and I welcomed the community and musician Grace Palmer to join us at Standing Stone Wines in Winooski to celebrate and kick off our re-election campaign for Chittenden Central Senate. I am so grateful to everyone who packed the room and supported us and the work we’ve done. I’m especially grateful to Wilmer Chavarria who ran over from the Winooski school district’s graduation to give a deeply moving speech about the moment and the fight that we are in right now. Instead of sharing the bulk of the speeches that Sen. Gulick and I gave, I wanted to share some of what Wilmer shared from his perspective as an immigrant, a gay man, and someone who works with a very diverse group of young people.
“13 days after we married, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, and suddenly our dream of having a life together became possible without thinking that we had to leave the country. These rights seemed to have been granted overnight to us, but obviously they were not. They were the result of decades, if not centuries, of sacrifices by queer people and allies that themselves did not see the result of their struggle. At the time, I felt overjoyed, and I felt hope for the future, not only for Cyrus and me, but also for the country and the world. One lesson I learned quickly, though, is that there's no such thing as permanent rights for those of us in the margins.
While the Defense of Marriage Act was overturned by a mix of activism, political will, and legal accidents, the people that created cruel laws such as this one are still around and are very much determined to take those rights away from us. Just take a look at the hundreds of anti-trans bills being actively considered around the country right now, or the fact that what we thought were settled matters on marriage equality are being pushed for reconsideration at the Supreme Court. The hate day of hate is now. It's not 50 years ago or 200. It's not a black and white photograph or a painting of Native Americans being slaughtered.
We are witnessing terrorists, racists, and wicked men wield power from high offices, ordering killings with a smile on their face. We are witnessing the millions with a moral compass so rotten that they'd rather torture children and put them in cages than share their neighborhood with a brown person. We are witnessing the time where history is so forgotten that the so-called good people prefer to stay silent and not be bothered just to keep peace, even if that means enabling the suffering of others elsewhere. So I don't need a history textbook to show me the martyrs and dissenters of those times. What I need to know is who they are right now.
Who will have my back when they come for me? And who will fight the fight when everyone else hides? I am proud to stand here in support of those two people. I am honored to introduce to you two of the most critical voices in our state who know exactly how to meet this moment.”
I take Wilmer’s call to action seriously every single day. For all the legislation that we pass in the Statehouse, the most important thing that I can do as a Senator and a human being is to stand up and have Wilmer’s back, and every other person who wakes up afraid in this country, and do what is right, not what is easy.
