Happy New Year - I hope...

Well we finally ushered in 2009 and it could not have come too soon for this tired, seething mom. I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me 2008 felt as though it would never end. Thankfully though, it has indeed ended and George W. Bush's 8 bumbling years of destroying everything he touches are almost over and we can finally move on and tuck the memory of him and his ugly legacy into that deep dark compartment in our minds reserved for the ugliest memories we don't want haunting us anymore.

Now we can finally look forward to a new year, a new President, and a new start. But the problem with all of this for me is... I am deathly afraid my expectations are way too high and that I have set myself up for some heart-wrenching disappointments and more seething rage.

My reasonable, pragmatic self knows darn well that our soon-to-be President cannot be everything to everyone, and that there will always be people who will be disappointed and/or angered by decisions he makes. But I am desperately hoping that the glbt community and the people who love them will not be among them. And yes, I know, that is really, really selfish of me -- and maybe even a bit nasty as well. But you know what? I----don't-----care. The past two presidents (yes Clinton too -- remember "Don't ask, don't tell" and "DOMA" happened on his watch) have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that gays and lesbians are still the last politically acceptable group of people whose rights and dignity can still be trampled for great political gain and no major repercussions.

It is time for a new kind of politics. A politics that doesn't sacrifice the rights and dignity of any minority to satisfy the whims of the loudest voices within the majority. And I have put all of my hopes into the idea that Barack Obama is the man who will usher in that new kind of politics that this country so desperately needs.

Am I being naive? Am I asking for too much? Maybe. Time will tell. But I am wondering if my first clue as to how soon I will be among the disappointed (or maybe I should say: crushed) was the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration. I have to confess, this has put this seething mom on edge. I am not going to let myself feel despair yet, but I can tell you this, I am very nervous. I simply cannot imagine another four years of watching my son's rights be sacrificed at the political altar. I just don't think I can do it. And yet, I am beginning to wonder if this seething mom may also be a foolish mom as well. Is it too much to expect that my son will have the same rights as Rick Warren's children, regardless of whom he chooses to love? I am hoping Obama comes out of the starting gate with a clear and decisive answer.

And I am praying that I can live with that answer.