It's a sad state of affairs, my fellow GLBT'ers.  I just spent several emails with GLB publishers and their review of the publishing business at large.  In their emails they decried several things of which I know we all hear.  The economy.  People are buying eBooks, the Kindle will finish us all.  And, too all of these worries I wonder, what would would Harvey Milk do?

     Okay, so, WWHMD doesn't quite sing as well as WWJD, but the cry might be the right cry for our community to raise right now.  Harvey was not against the big, straight, normal world.  He was FOR the GLBT underdogs.  And, for goodness sakes, why aren't we still following that path?  Why in the world are we settling for polite marginalization of our community by accepting the hetero handouts coming from the so called left leaning straight folk?  

     Yes, yes. Be polite.  Don't kiss too deeply.  Now,  let us make a little fun of you on ABC.  Of course, we'll have to use stereotypes that we like.  No, no, no.  The "happy" stereotypes.  Yes, those behind the counter, up on the shelf marked For Straight Consumption.  Yes, one serving of Big Nelly and Skinny Pensive.  Do you have a special on those?  Oh, 50% off self respect?  Delightful. Yes, I'll take two then.  Lovely to shop.  You little queer people are so nice.  Maybe one day we'll let you marry.  Yes, such a shame about that. But thank you!  I've got a Homeless Rally at the Palomar to Attend.  Funny, how those people don't turn out to support themselves.  Why, we validate parking - don't THEY know that?

    I don't mean to rant, but what if, just what if we, as a community, refused to buy another Stephen King book until we happened to read the best new fiction by a GLBT person?  What if we brought out community's spending power to our community?  Consider if we simply did this.  If the average GLBT person decided to make just one of of four purchases a purchase from another GLBT person?  I had a friend of mine who loves these things get out the spending journals and guestimate the effect.  Yes, we have to guestimate.  The census still doesn't have the "pink" box but it's okay to divide us up according to lines that just came into being a few hundred years ago.  While most scientists agree we've had GLBT people as long as we've had people.  Funny, those white folk have only been around for about 4,000 years.  But, I won't go there.  Not in this rant.  But, IF we did to just the 1 in 4 we would eliminate make an "economic impact beyond anything seen in consumer spending patterns since the self rescue of the Jewish communities after the Holocaust".  Yes, the Jewish community saved themselves because we sure weren't going to do it here in the good old USA.  With Hitler defeated and the Japanese smashed, we had to make repatriation payments to Germany and the South Pacific revitalization.  Oh, vey.

     But, one in four would mean visibility.  And visibility would lead to the potential for dignity.  And dignity would lead to the possibility for leadership.  Not important?  Doesn't mean anything would happen?  Well, my fellow GLBT'er, let's just ask someone who has a different opinion for standing up for your own kind somewhere down the line.  Mr. Obama?

  Pink dollars for pink people at least part time.  Now, someone hand me my tiara before I slip off my heels on this damn soapbox.