Up here in the hills in the middle of a particularly brutal winter, my friends often ask "why in the hell are you living in such a frontier environment?" The snow, ice, well below zero temperatures, closed roads and often power failures do not exactly constitute the tropical atmosphere of a Key West. When questioned, the only response I can find is that you have to feel it, love it and live it to understand. There is something magical, beautiful and inspiring about this lifestyle. The sense of neighborhood, the joy of wildlife and the most spectacular summers you can imagine.

The same is true of being a member of the LGBT community. Many outsiders pat themselves on the back about being allies or having taken all the right positions. However when push comes to shove they rarely live these values or principles. Few are willing to stand firm, to make sacrifice or risk alienation on behalf of the LGBT community. Until you feel it and live it you will not understand it. You must have our freedom at the core of your values and principles. Those who care about the unlocking the amazing gifts that this community can bring to society must be willing to receive them and know them.

Quite honestly we have been thrown overboard too many times by our political allies whether it was the short term appointment of Senator Judd Gregg or those who duck and sway on the issue of marriage equality. The LGBT community is not a political issue. We are not the cultural barometer of the day. We are not here to grace your dinner tables and make you feel progressive by inviting an LGBT couple. No, we are none of these things. We are a full fledged civil rights movement fighting for freedom.

Our struggle should not be taken lightly nor only embraced when convenient. There is no room for negotiation. Which right do you want me to surrender in order to make others feel comfortable? What amazing gift of ours do you not want us to contribute to this needy planet so you can have an easier path?

That is why the decision of President Bill Clinton to cross the picket line at the Manchester Hotel literally crosses the line. For $100,000, he has decided to break the boycott established by the community after Proposition 8. Many organizations and leaders have moved their events to other comparable hotels in San Diego. Today he will most likely be snuck into the back of the hotel to avoid the line, speak and collect his money. He defends his actions by saying that he has taken the right position on a number of issues and will cross the line to speak to a trade organization!

e is making exactly my point. When it is convenient for him he supports us but if any sacrifice is required of him he makes the wrong decision. President Clinton knows the right position on key issues but he doesn't really view us as a full fledged civil rights movement. We are a constituency to him. A political bloc. Certainly he does not view us as noble and indestructible movement for freedom because if he believed that, he would never cross the line in front of the Manchester Hotel.

As I write this, I can only hope in the end he will do the right thing at the last moment and not cross the line. However, I am not holding my breath. Been there. Done that.