A Little Speaker For All of Us, We Hope

Recently, newly-elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi started a blog on OurChart.com, a new MySpace-type site based off of something called "The Chart" on popular lesbian TV drama The L Word. While the site itself has not yet been launched, production is well underway and several popular names in the lesbian community have joined to show their support, start blogs and/or many other ways of interacting.

Speaker Pelosi has only posted once, understandably, and in that post the Speaker noted many of the issues she intends to address in office and the effect she wishes to have on the House of Representatives and the American public in general.

"Many Members of Congress shared this historic moment with their families and children on the floor of House. It was a special moment for the women and young girls to witness the first woman Speaker. There was recognition that the marble ceiling has been broken and now the sky is the limit for our daughters and granddaughters. ...

Next week we begin our New Direction 100 Hours agenda which begins to address the needs of all Americans. We have made history, now it is time to make progress."
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, on OurChart.com
[If you wish to learn more about Speaker Pelosi's 100 Hours agenda or to see her opening day speech, visit www.speaker.gov]

Some women have already started responding to this post, and the feedback has ranged from eloquent to concise, but none without merit.

One reply, however, caught my interest. The original poster commented with the following:

"Submitted by Anonymous on January 8, 2007 - 3:53am.

whats this got to do with gay/lesbian affairs?"

To which another reader responded with:

"Submitted by Anonymous on January 8, 2007 - 9:30am.

EVERYTHING !!

Do not be an Ostrich. Unless you have been living outside of this universive, you have not been paying attention to the political events that have dragged this country's freedoms and civil rights back 75 years.

GO NANCY !!"

It was this reply that really piqued my interest enough to warrant some input of my own. Granted, it may have been a bit much for what was said, but I feel that what I wrote could get some conversation started. That was one of my main intentions in posting, at least. I decided to post here because I wanted to alert people of the new Speaker's agenda and also to get my own thoughts out there in more places than one.

That being said, I responded to the previous post with this:

"Submitted by Anonymous on January 8, 2007 - 11:48am.

What was said above this post is completely true - and something very important to remember. Yes, we are very concerned with the gay and lesbian issues our nation is currently "facing" (though I use that word warily, as until very recently, the nation has been doing its utmost to ignore us altogether). However, we are not only identified as gays and lesbians. We're also mothers, daughters, sisters, employees, consumers, buyers etc.

Just because Speaker Pelosi didn't directly address the gay and lesbian community in her opening speech doesn't mean she does not/will not address it. I say give change some time; it took well over 200 years for minorities and women to get the recognition, freedoms and liberties that they have now. Let's try not to discount the Speaker's efforts before she's even really begun.

That all being said; a big congratulations to Speaker Pelosi. I'm proud to know that my little sister and all the other young women interested in making change in the world now have someone they can really look up to.

Julia Singer
Annandale, Virginia"

As always, thoughts, comments, concerns and the like are all welcome and encouraged.

I hope everyone is having a splendid 2007 as of yet, and I will catch you all on the flipside.