"I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! I have VALUE!" shouted Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in the movie, Network (1976)

Click here to read my most recent Op/Ed, "I'm a HUMAN BEING. Goddamnit! I have VALUE!"

Thirty years later, why don’t we all act more like we feel our lives have value?

After disclosures involving closeted gay persons such as Congressman Mark Foley and Rev. Ted Haggard, isn’t it time to recognize more than ever the importance of encouraging our community to live authentic lives? Isn’t it time to help our community gain tools for how to do that? Both Oprah and The Advocate recently interviewed former New Jersey governor, Jim McGreevey. He confirms the need for authenticity and honesty in one’s personal life, which he chronicles in his new book, Confession.

As a person who was “out before Ellen was in,” I personally experienced the positive aspects of living an authentic life. More recently, on September 11, 2005, my spouse, Robynne, and I embarked on our year long journey, Gay Into Straight America, and are finally back in the Pacific Northwest at our home in Blaine, WA. Two women and a poodle had the intention of engaging hearts and minds, creating authentic connections, and dissolving differences that separate us with those who wrestle with their understanding of sexual orientation and gender variance.

Conversations with a diverse array of Americans convinced us that a positive societal transformation is close at hand. Interacting with people throughout the United States, we experienced first hand what many people feel about marriage equality, inclusive of same gender couples. The results of recent polls, showing that people are shifting in their understanding and support, were no surprise to us. The Oct. 27-31, 2006 New York Times/CBS News poll found that 55 percent of respondents favored either full marriage equality or civil unions for gay couples. And a Nov. 5-6, 2006 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll found that 60 percent favored legal recognition for same-sex couples - 30 percent favoring marriage and 30 percent favoring "a legal partnership similar to but not called marriage." Only 32 percent of likely voters believed that same-sex couples should have no legal recognition.

Since the recent November elections, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has urged media to examine the diminishing returns of anti-gay ballot initiatives in the context of recent public opinion polls on relationship recognition for lesbian and gay families. In 2004, the vast majority of such anti-gay laws passed with more than 70 percent of the vote. In 2006, more than half of those that passed garnered support of percentages in the 50s.

GLAAD President Neil Giuliano argues that public support for legal recognition and protection of same-sex couples and their families is the direct result of the public dialogue about marriage. "Because of the discussion about marriage, more lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are living openly and honestly. They're talking to people about their lives and sharing their stories in the media. And as a result they are helping to strengthen the kind of understanding that leads to acceptance and respect."

A Harris Interactive poll showing that only 4% of gays and lesbians are out in every situation in their life points out that our community needs to do more. Not truly knowing us illustrates why people are still confused regarding how our lives are impacted by the lack of protective laws afforded others. Rather than allowing a minority to hold us hostage through fear, we need to accept the undeniable power that living our authentic lives offers for creating change in our society.

We can’t stop. Now is the time to embrace a willingness to live authentic lives so that we can engage in more dialogue. Throughout our journey we said, “You can’t hate someone whose story you know.” Since this works both ways, we have to be willing to listen to the stories of others as well. In the process we have the opportunity to bridge the divide. This will allow us to create the next leap in people’s understanding about our lives as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.

The recent elections expose the tip of the iceberg of what is available to us when we stand up and speak out. Not addressing how our silence continues to feed the myths will continue to enable us to our own dysfunction. It is time for us to look at what role each of us has played in creating the very environment that we complain about, leave victimhood behind, and make a new and empowering choice!

The light in me honors the light in each of you, dotti