Your challenge

The Gayly – August 9, 2014 @ 1:45pmIf you could change your state by filling out a piece of paper, would you? Well here is your chance. Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas…every state needs you to vote, and to make sure everyone in your circle of influence joins you at the polls. Your challenge is to register ten new voters before November, and to get ten of your friends to do the same. This is how we create change. We have all heard the clichés:

 “My vote doesn’t count.”

 “Politicians are all the same.”

 “Oklahoma will never change.”

These are just excuses, and they are bad ones. Every election from school board to President makes a difference in our lives, and the decisions are made by those who show up at the polls. There are not enough of us showing up.

In Oklahoma, there are over 2.8 million people of voting age. Of them, 66% (1.8 million) are registered to vote, but only 52% cast a ballot in the 2012 presidential election – making us 48th out of 50 states in percentage of voters turning out. This means that of the 3,850,568 people that live in the state of Oklahoma, less than 35% take part in electing our leaders, and it is no ones’ fault but our own.

LGBT Oklahomans and our allies are severely under represented at the state capitol and for our community to thrive this has to change. Tens of thousands of us attend OKC and Tulsa Pride every year. Tahlequah Pride drew over 600 on their first attempt – imagine what we could do if we registered all of them to vote. Oklahoma is light years ahead of other states in our region in LGBT community engagement. We have two community centers and dozens of community and advocacy organizations serving LGBT Oklahomans across the state – they all do amazing work – yet this has not yet translated into policy change at the statewide level.

Pride is important, and our community centers and organizations are vital, but make no mistake - we are also in the fight of our lives. In the last decade, we have seen a quantum leap in LGBT civil rights, and Oklahoma’s time is now. If we are to gain protections from discrimination in the workplace, if we are to ban the abuse of our youth from the torture of so-called conversion therapy, if we are to stop harassment in our classrooms and locker rooms, we must make our voices heard. They need to hear us at the ballot box; they must hear us in the halls of our state’s capitol and in the meetings of every city’s Council across this great state. If we speak loudly with a unified voice we can no longer be ignored.

Elections don’t happen every four years when the president’s name is on the ballot, they happen several times a year, every year. There are runoff elections in August, and you have until August 1 to get registered to vote on August 26. The general election is on November 4, and you have until October 10 to get registered and register others. Get involved, get registered, register your friends, and get out the vote. This, too, is how we win!

by Troy Stevenson TEN Columnist

The Gayly - August 9, 2014 @ 1:45pm