Tea with the Senator

Phil Reese, Senator Carol Moseley Braun and Phil's friend Eric

Last Friday was incredible. I had a chai cider latte for the first time. I found some neat places in Hyde Park. And I was offered tea by a former candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in her living room.

I’ve just posted the transcript of my interview with Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun over at Bilerico.com at a post titled Chicago Mayoral Candidate and LGBT Ally, Carol Moseley Braun. I was excited to interview the former US Senator and Ambassador to New Zealand for many reasons–not the least of which was to sit on her couch and browse her incredible collect of photos from her long life in public service. Photos of the Senator with icons like Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

Miles Davis had signed a painting in her living room. Miles Davis. She hummed Miles Davis while she poured tea for everyone in the room. It was like a dream.

I was most excited to interview the first and only African American woman in the US Senator, however, because Moseley Braun has been a staunch and steadfast ally to the community her entire public life. She voted against the original ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue’ “compromise” in 1993, be she also gave this incredible floor speech in the Senate in 1996 when her colleagues were debating whether or not to pass the discriminatory so-called “Defense of Marriage Act.”

“…In our system, the Constitution protects our freedoms and prevents Government from taking those freedoms away. At the same time, the genius of the system is that, at its best, it brings us together to expand opportunity and to expand freedom. Gay and lesbian Americans, however, do not yet fully enjoy the equal protection of the laws promised to every American by the 14th amendment. And this legislation, it seems to me, is a step in the absolute opposite direction of extending the equal protection of the laws to Americans without regard to their sexual orientation, just as we moved so fitfully in this country to extend those protections to Americans without regard to their race.

It seems to me that if we examine the history, it will show the fundamental truth of the notion that this Congress should be involved in expanding, and not restricting, individual liberty, that we should not involve the Federal Government in decisions that will restrict liberty, indeed, if anything, we should involve our Government in providing people with opportunities to contribute to the total of our society to the maximum extent of their ability and to be whoever they are within the context of this society.

That, indeed, is what freedom, that, indeed, is what the whole constitutional framework is about in this country, as I understand it, and as many people understand it who hold sacred the promise of freedom and independence that this declaration gives us. Strides have been made to provide gay and lesbian Americans the equal protection of the laws, but DoMA is a retreat from that goal.”

Seven years ago, I was a little queer kid in awe of the brazen audacity of an African American woman–whom the press kept reminding had no shot at winning the Presidential nomination–to stand in the debates against the white men of the political establishment and tell them she’s not going home, and she’s going to be sure that women and underrepresented people were not going to be left out of these conversations. I wanted to vote for her, but sadly she dropped out before the primaries.

And here I was, a few years later, in her living room turning down cookies and tea from this incredible woman (I was too nervous, I was afraid I’d spill)! I had no idea what path brought me there, but I was so thankful for it.

Check out the latest episode of SameSexSunday where you can actually hear part of the interview. Make sure you check out my latest Bilerico post and read the whole transcript of my special conversation with this incredible woman!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Politics & Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.