Photo credit: Benson Kua
April’s lousy introduction to spring offered nasty spates of cold, snow and wind. But the warmth of renewal glowed on the political front. On April 3, we elected Rebecca Dallet to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Then House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his decision not to run for reelection.
A gay friend, involved with politics as he is, posted a “thanks for your service, Mr. Speaker” on social media. As galling as that was to those watching the country being torn asunder by the hate Ryan enabled, I understood my friend’s dilemma. Whether in true gratitude or not, as a political functionary, he apparently felt obliged to publically bow in perfunctory deference to the office. I wish he hadn’t. He normalized the man’s mission in the process.
Ryan had long ago abandoned his constituents. His refusal to hold a town hall meeting became a running joke. It’s understandable—voters would have demanded answers and action while his handlers handed him checks. To be fair, during the 2016 presidential campaign, the speaker did, albeit in mincing milquetoast manner, offer some tepid resistance to the daily barrage of his candidate’s affronts. But, after the election, as if on cue, he fawned, applauded and grinned like a Brewer’s bobblehead whenever the opportunity arose, surrendering his soul (if he ever had one) to his party’s Mephisto.
In the image and likeness of his master he became a heartless reflection of cruelty. He offered doe-eyed thoughts and prayers to the countless victims of gun violence. And, as if an NRA hand had pulled a string on a spineless limp dolly, he’d utter, “Now is not the time” to talk about gun regulations, the last time in callous dismissal of the victims who had escaped a school shooting on the slip and slide of their schoolmates’ blood.
Admittedly, the man is smart. He got his tax break for himself and his friends but saw the blue wave rising to wash him overboard. Like others of his ilk, he’s abandoning ship. But it’s not a matter of contrition, he’s simply cashing out.
It’s ultimately sad that we LGBTQs, people of color, women, immigrants, the middle class and anyone concerned with the environment and education have paid a price for Ryan’s pact with the Devil. For that, we are at least partially responsible. According to minutes of a 2015 LGBT Community Center board meeting, a discussion about the center’s role in politics ended with a cautionary warning against it. No doubt, the center’s non-political 501(c)(3) status provided an excuse for no political engagement at all (although some churches do it all the time). It would also avoid clashes with certain donors. But, as my mother would say, “He who dances must pay the piper.” We paid all right.
But now, with the spring awakening of millions upon millions of millennials mobilized since the Florida shooting, there is hope to halt, if not reverse, the erosion of our rights. A recent Victory Institute LGBTQ Leadership Summit held last week in Milwaukee may portend an end to our complacency.
In one of my favorite lines from Winnie the Pooh, Winnie declares “Tut, tut. It looks like rain.” I can’t wait for November.
