Advocates Lobby
Footsteps echo in state halls, as office doors open. Will lawmakers listen to citizens’ arguments for recognition of something as foreign to some as sexual orientation and gender identity? Echoes mean little if no one will listen, yet silence delivers nothing. And so they speak, hoping their representatives will hear.
hoping to counter
attempted isolation
advocates lobby
On promo Equality Day, February, 19th, concerned citizens standing up for equality and LGBTQ rights walked the halls of the Missouri Capitol during “promo Equality Day” and visited State Representatives to encourage them to support and pass the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA). MONA would prohibit discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, such as unlawful housing practices, denial of loans or financial assistance, unlawful employment practices, and denial of access to public accommodations. MONA has been proposed every year since 1998, with growing support each year, and is badly needed in a state where no employee is assured protection from being fired for sexual orientation and public restroom access can be denied, based on gender identity. In a nation established on the protection of rights, some rights continue to be withheld, and any voice supporting those rights deserves to be heard.
This haibun is my response to the prompt for dVerse Poetics: On Privilege, which is to write a poem regarding privilege (or, as in this case, the lack thereof).
Image source: promoonline.org
rivrvlogr 
I loved your analogies in this one! Very well done. I liked this line…
Echoes mean little if no one will listen, yet silence delivers nothing.
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Thank you, Dwight. The prose came last. When I realized what I had written was too detailed and could serve as a summary or footnote, I went with prose that was more poetic (and shorter!).
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l like that just go with the flow. Usually works out best that way!
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It is so sad that people have to even protest and hope for something that should be a given. And it makes me angry, too.
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It’s hard to focus on the good news when there’s so much of the opposite out there.
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Yes, it is. Perhaps that’s why when we see small acts of kindness (or large) or beauty, it’s all the more reason to celebrate.
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Agreed.
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This is such a timely haibun — I love how you depict that conversations and discourse around these subjects are so significant. It may take a long time to get there but silence would beget nothing. As the number of voices increases year after year, it may, after all, become a crescendo. Very well penned! 🙂
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Thank you. The pace of change can be disappointing, but it is change.
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“echoes” really illustrates the absence of concern and support. Nicely done, Ken.
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🙂 Thank you. It’s impossible to speak for the future, but there can’t be change without hope.
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The persistence needed to push something like this through is staggering… I always wonder why people is afraid of giving these rights…
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Indeed, it is hard to understand.
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Let those voices be heard – sometimes it is best to speak up and let them know. Silence does not bring action sadly.
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Changing minds the ultimate goal.
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Great take on the prompt here. Oh yes…..sadly and in a devastating way, silence echoes.
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Thank you, Lillian.
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A tribute to those who refuse to give up or in. May they continue to be strong. (K)
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Thank you. Change is not a product of indifference.
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yet silence delivers nothing. – a good reminder to stand up for what we believe in
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Thank you, Gina.
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