Countering the Drip, Drip Drip Effect - The Story Behind the PROUD Shirt
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When I am getting ready for bed I like to listen to political podcasts. Last year I was listening to NPR's Politics Podcast and I was disturbed by what I was hearing.
It was about Donald Trump. It wasn't about his latest slur or tweet. It was about what was happening when most of the news was focusing on topics like that. It was about his productivity in getting appellate judges confirmed. Appellate courts sit below the Supreme Court and any case that isn't agreed to be heard by the Supreme Court will leave the decision of the appellate court final.
More than that he outsourced the work of coming up with recommendations to very conservative groups. So hard right judges were being appointed. These are lifetime appointments and a judge in their 40s have 30+ years of rulings to impact.
Finally, many LGBTQ cases end in a 5/4 split.
This concerned me highly. This would not be felt today. Maybe not this year. It could take years for the impact of these judges being appointed to shift a 5/4 vote from in favor to LGTBQ rights to against them.
I wanted to counter the possible drip, drip drip effect.
So I created the OUT-FIT PROUD T-Shirt.
The idea was this. Public opinion from against to in favor of same sex marriage in such a short time was attributed to more americans personally knowing a LGBTQ person. It is really hard to argue how someone you know (and probably like - because we are pretty fabulous,) should not have the same rights as you. Few can share a dinner table with a person and tell them they are not deserving of the same rights. It was the coming out, often younger and louder, that created the necessary cultural shift.
This is want I wanted to help continue.
Every time I ship out a PROUD shirt I think about the 10, 20 or 30+ people that will see it worn. Workout settings are often very anti-social (Headphones on!) or certain topics are not discussed, for whatever reason. But, your apparel can't be missed.
If there will we a drip, drip drip of challenges to our rights from far right conservative judges then this is my response. This is the drip, drip drip of our presence in the world. We will not be ignored nor have our rights taken away and we will stand proud in front of you.
-TBM
January 20th, 2018