Perhaps There is Another Option

"Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there is a young gay person who all the sudden realizes that he or she is gay; knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house, their classmates will taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant's and John Briggs' are doing their part on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, and suicide. And then one day that child might open the paper that says "Homosexual elected in San Francisco" and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said "Thanks". And you've got to elect gay people, so that thousand upon thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world; there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those who are blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's: without hope the us's give up. I know that you can't live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and you have got to give them hope."
-Harvey Milk, 1978

Somewhere in Phoenix or Salt Lake City there is a young gay Mormon who all of the sudden realizes that he or she is gay. They look at their doctrine and they know that if people find out they will be taunted, pitied, possibly tossed out of the house. This child has several options: Stay in the closet or suicide. And then one day that child goes to Church and hears the same rhetoric that has been said for the last 4000 years and realizes that there is a need for new light and knowledge. And there are two new options: Go to California and leave the church, the lifeblood of their identity, or stay in Salt Lake and Fight! Fight not for equal rights, but for equal answers. You’ve got to pray and petition God like the children of Israel for deliverance from darkness. And you’ve got to band together, thousands upon thousands of those like that child that know there is hope for a better world. A world of light. For without that Hope, not only the Gays, but the liberals, the intellectuals, the feminists, the us’s: without hope the us’s give up. I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and all of us, have to Pray and give them Hope!
-David Baker, 2009