Arrived home late last night after the long 12 hour drive back from the disappointing defeat of Question One in Maine.   The lump in my throat refuses to abate.   And looking at the photographs of my co-workers at the moment the polls closed and later at the party, brings tears to my eyes.  Not tears of defeat and regret, tears of pride in such extraordinary human beings.

Nonetheless, it was a close election.  Very close indeed.  Having spent the past six days getting to know the people of Maine and the countless others from every corner of this country, whom I tirelessly worked alongside, was beyond a privilege and an honor.

This experience, as bitter-sweet as it seems now, will stay with me forever.  But it will not be the bitter half of that equation that I will revisit.  I will forget with time the woman who slammed the door violently in my face, the hunter who threatened me with dogs and a shotgun blast if I did not leave his property immediately, the glaring, seething look of disgust and hatred from one man who politely refused to reveal his vote, but whose demeanor and expression belied his stance.

Rather what will remain are the imperishable memories of the countless, amazing people I shared this push for equality with; the calibre of their characters and the integrity I paid witness to in my colleagues and the many, many citizens of Maine who selflessly championed our cause.  It was beyond humbling.  This experience is unsurpassed by any other cooperative endeavor I have ever undertaken.

Know this...love can never be legislated or imprisoned by laws.  It exists outside the realm of such devices and is mercifully of a higher order than the laws of men.  We will continue to commit to building a more just and equal society.  We will marry where we have been given refuge, we will continue to build families framed by the paradigm of love and dignity, we will never bow our heads in shame nor walk behind anyone, for we are not followers, we are the pioneers of a new and better America.  We are the voices of change for the better country, the better world.

The faces, oh the countless faces full of expressions of compassion, camaraderie, friendship, bonhomie, and yes, above all, once more, that one irrepressible word: LOVE that graced all those people's eyes.

The preacher and his wife who worked around the clock keeping our canvassers fed, prepared and informed.  The heterosexual young woman from the University of Maryland who arrived at my door the morning of this shameful defeat on the face of this country's history and fell into my arms weeping with abandon, unable to comprehend how anyone could divide and demean our fellow citizens.  The canvasser that brought a Notary to the door of a woman infected with the N1H1 and carried the ballot in favor of equality back to headquarters with rubber gloves and in a plastic bag, and on and on and on.

This is my American family.  These are the champions whose vision for progress and equality will never damped, never be broken by the ardor and cynicism of religious persecution.  These are the best children America has delivered us.

Soon enough GLBT Americans will overcome the second class status imposed upon them by those who feel they are entitled to greater protections under our Constitution than we and in the end, we will claim our rightful place on the American landscape as citizens endowed with the exact same rights bestowed upon all others in our society.   Because it is right.  Because Americans at heart are fair.  Because we fled the crown of England to pursue our freedom from religious oppression and that is the kernel of our collective consciousness.  Because we are in the right.  Period.

Just as Black Americans were for far too long treated as unequal members of the American family, we too will be recognized and our well-deserved respect and human dignity will prevail against prejudice, intolerance and religious persecution.  Who would have imagined in the land of the KKK, the country that bore the murder of Martin Luther King, that we would live to witness with such inordinate pride the day that our nation would be steered from the highest office in the land, by the good conscience and honest effort of a decent Black man of virtue?

In spite of all the hatred, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance, this country is yet capable of true greatness.  I know it.  I saw it on the streets of Maine these past few days, I saw it in the passion and solidarity of those who interrupted their dinners, their lives, to open their doors and hearts to us.

Please let us all remember, every day, to do our part to continue to stand together against those whose tyrannical wish is to thwart the higher moral ground this country was built on and which has nothing whatsoever to do with personal ideology or religion.

To the contrary, let us remember our purpose as Americans is always and forever to defend against those who wish to corrupt the meaning and truth of our Constitution framed with the sole purpose of guaranteeing all Americans their civil rights.

The events in Maine will stand as a testament to the fact that we stand on the correct side of history.  We who did all we could up in Maine will be remembered as those who never gave up the fight to protect Freedom for all our citizens, equally and without exceptions.