Nightingale sang a disappointing song.

The last time I saw a drama at Hartford Stage I said that it exceeded my expectations because I usually have low expectations for one actor plays. Last Sunday I reverted to my normal opinion of one actor plays. My reaction to Lynn Redgrave’s play was to fall asleep. Repeatedly. Kathleen was vigilant to wake me before I started snoring (I think).

The play, Nightingale, which was written and performed by Lynn Redgrave, is the story of her grandmother’s life, or more accurately Lynn’s imagination of what her grandmother’s life must have like. The story was at least moderately interesting and does reflect “what challenges an English woman born at the end of the nineteenth century might face.” (from Stage notes by Christopher Baker.) Unfortunately it was a very ordinary and sheltered life, and just not that very interesting.

The critic in the Hartfort Courant thought that the acting was stronger than the play. Click here for review. I thought the opposite, I thought that Lynn’s acting was abasmyl. Her voice droned on and on with very little variation, this is what I found most deadly. James Lecesne in I am My Own Wife was a master of dozens of voices, it seemed like there was a cast of several dozen playing out the drama, but Sunday night it was only Lynn droning on and on.

Of course that is only my opinion, Kathleen enjoyed the play greatly, and a lot of people were quickly on their feet for a standing ovation when the play was over. Needless to say I was not one of them. I also noticed several people who left in the middle of the 90 minute performance. There were no intermissions.

They did have a “High Tea” and Jewelry exposition/sale in the upstairs lobby before the show. I thought the difference between High Tea and just Tea was that High Tea had more substantial food, well I was glad that we had eaten a late lunch before the theater, although everything that I ate was quite tasty, just very dainty. I don’t know if this was a one night event by invitation to theater goers on this particular night, or if it also happened for other performances. We did see some interesting work and met one of the artisans who was quite talkative and we discovered that we had a mutual friend. Kathleen asked the price on one of her pieces because the little price tag was hard to read. Kathleen thought it said $65, but discovered that it said $650. Needless to say she did not get it as a belated anniversary present.

Youth have a message to bring.

On this past Sunday morning at First Presbyterian Church the children and youth were in charge of the whole service. They did a wonderful job, thought those of you who are part of the Church would want to see the pictures. Click here and enjoy.

The Walk Against Hunger this year was a tremendous success.

That's Me with Gloria McAdam, executive of Foodshare receiving my certificate. More Pictures from the Award celebration. I personally raised $1250, $100 was redistributed to other First Pres walkers so some of our younger walkers could receive a prize.

The total raised by Team First Presbyterian for the Walk Against Hunger was over $11,400!

Once again, First Presbyterian's walkers and contributors outdid themselves in helping Hartford's hungry people. Led financially by a fabulous showing from Holly Billings and Pastor Terry Davis, FPC raised $5300 dollars more than last year's not insubstantial effort and was well represented when eighteen members and friends cruised through the sunshine in Hartford's West End. Based on the on line fundraising totals we believed that Holly Billings was the top individual fund raiser and that First Presbyterian Church was on top of the list of faith organizations. At the awards presentation we discovered that one or two other individuals raised more over all than Holly’s $6100 plus. With $15,621 in gifts the team from St. Patrick St. Anthony parish (With a much larger congregation) bested First Presbyterian Church.
Thanks to all of our members who again so amply supported the FPC team!. Thanks again to Keith Rhoden, Barb Yates, Sue Jungi, Deb Meadows, Terry Davis, Carl and Shirley Dudley, Pauline Robertson, Holly Billings, Lois Maxwell, Saundra Spinelli, Marissa Cort, Esther Darko, Solana Gadson, Rusty, Grant, and Karen Spears, and George and Carolyn Blick for going out and asking their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives to support this worthwhile cause. Special thanks as well to Marian Cooke for helping with the pre-walk luncheon as well as Robin Roberts for catapulting the team so far up the donor list.

For the second consecutive year, Center City Churches has been named the number one fundraiser among benefiting agencies with our 218 walkers amassing $60,090, the largest sum ever raised by a single agency. (Eighty percent of the gross total comes directly to the agency to support MANNA: 20 percent goes to Foodshare to support other Hartford-area food programs.) This distinction will bring a $500 bonus to the net total, with contributions are still being submitted to Foodshare in our name. Plus corporate matching gifts and contributions made directly to MANNA will take us over the top of the Walk Committee's s-t-r-e-t-c-h goal of $62,500!

Gloria McAdams, Executive Director of Foodshare reports on the overall results. In total, this year's Walk Against Hunger raised $442,000! A full 10% above last year's results of $400,000 and well over our goal of $430,000! Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made that happen!

CT Legislature draws to a close with unfinished work. Books I have and am reading.

In less that 48 hours the Connecticut legislature will adjourn as required by law, with much of their work still unfinished, including both the tax plan and the spending budget. I guess none of the Legislators mind coming back for a special session since they will be paid for the time they spend in the special session. I have always been surprised that the precedent which was common in Kentucky seems unknown in the northeast. When the statutory hour for ending the session drew near with the work incomplete it was common practice that the clocks in the legislative chambers were stopped so that officially midnight did not come until the work was complete.

What have you been reading lately? I am always interested in what is on other people’s reading list. I have recently completed The Children of Hurin, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The author has long since passed from this earth; his now aged son Christopher has pulled the book together from his father’s various writings, published and unpublished. I certainly enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I missed the Hobbits and Dwarves and Trolls; this book is concerned with the history of men in Middle Earth, along with the elves who did not make the great voyage to Valinor. There is one aged Dwarf remaining, but it is the later children of Iluvator (men) who are most involved in the conflict with the evil Morgoth and his armies of Orcs.

I also read a New York Times Bestseller, Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. Another of a number of books like The DaVinci Code that take their setting from legends of the Grail and alternate understandings of what the true Grail is. It is of course pure fiction set in Languedoc in southern France, but a very interesting page turner with an interesting theory to explain who were the heretics (variously known as Cathars, Bons Chetiens, or Albigensians) against whom the Pope declared a Crusade and who were the first objects of the inquisition.

I am now reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini whose first novel was the wonderfully popular The Kite Runner. I had printed out the coupon to buy the book at Borders Books and then failed to get there before the coupon expired. The next weekend in the Hartford Courant is an ad for a book signing by Hosseini at all places at BJ’s Wholesale Club. I am continually amazed at their selection of books, often including new releases and bestsellers, and the prices cannot be beat. Anyway I was enjoying the beginning of the book when we came to a new section labeled Book Two which picks up new characters 9 years later with no obvious relationship to the first story. I have gotten far enough to find the connection.

Early Summer Beauty. Last Week's Picture of the Week. Ghanaian Lunch





It is a beautiful time of the year, pictured is a rose blooming on a little island in the midst of the Church parking lot. At home I think our Rhododendrons are fuller and more beautiful than they have ever been before. Our peonies are coming into bloom, one oriental poppy with three blooms at once is making a spectacular show, and I counted a dozen smaller poppies in bloom this morning.





Holly Billings finally identified the swords into plowshares sculpture as being located in front of Hartford City Hall. To the shame of city maintenance the base of the sculpture has been buried under soil and mulch so the inscription calling for an end to gang violence in the city can no longer be read. Today shootings seem more drug related than gang related, although some are simply personal beefs over being disrespected or arguments over a woman. In any case a plea against violence seems relevant and needed when there is at least one a week and often more.




On May 20 we had a guest preacher from Ghana, Dr. Elizabeth Amoah, and following service we had a festive Ghanaian lunch. Pictured above is myself surrounded by some of our very attractive members from Ghana, Francisca, Juliana and Yaa. We dedicated a first gift of $350 to the Salvation Army hospital in Anum, Ghana and received a free will offering of over $800 for continuation of the work of building a relationship with the homeland of so many of our members. More Pictures

Last Sunday the members who were doing the coffee hour had a beautiful cake decorated in honor of the 40th anniversary of my being ordained to the Gospel Ministry. My pretty wife took me to dinner at Abbotts in the Rough, the prime place in Connecticut for delicious lobster dinners while overlooking the Long Island Sound. One person wanted to order 2 seven pound Lobsters, but they only had one that large on that day. I was standing at the pick up counter while they were showing it to him. It would take several people with my appetite to deal with that baby.

Same Sex Marriage - Picture of the week.

We have been publishing a picture of the week on the Church Web Site, all objects within walking distance of the Church. Do you know where this Biblically based Sculpture is located?

It was disappointing to read this morning that the proposal to recognize same sex marriage in Connecticut has been withdrawn for this session.
Story from CT News Junkie.
Comment from Love Makes a Family.
Those who count votes predicted that the bill would lose by a few votes in the House. We can be certain that the proposal will be back in the 2009 legislature, and likely that it will pass then.

Walk Against Hunger

Sunday, May 6 was a beautiful day for the annual Walk Against Hunger. A couple of dozen members and friends from First Presbyterian Church joined thousands of others in the great event. We shared lunch before traveling to the Hartford for walk check in. Two personal friends, Paul and Mary Berlejung from Vermont arrived in time for both morning service and lunch before participating in the walk. Several people who joined us for the mission trip, Joy and Beth from Manchester and Sue and Debbie from Provincetown also joined in lunch and walk.

First Presbyterian raised over $11,000 for the walk. Because our team designated contributions for Center City Churches, Center City will receive 80% of this amount for the MANNA Food Programs while the rest is retained by Foodshare to support over 350 Hartford Area programs. Overall Center City Churches hopes that the 45 teams designating their contributions to the event will bring in $62, 500 (Gross $50,000). The MANNA basic needs programs annually provide more that 65,000 meals to homeless and low-income individuals, 76,000 pounds (that is 38 tons) of food to struggling families as well as weekend meals for hundred’s of frail seniors as well as supplemental food for children through the weekend backpack program.

View Pictures

Grace (Eventually) – Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

Just finished this her latest book on faith, enjoyed it greatly. It is a collection of essays many of which originally appeared in the Boston Globe, Salon and a dozen or so other magazines.

Anne is a white woman with dreadlocks, above all honest and open with her own experiences, usually witty, sometimes side-splittingly funny. She is an alcoholic who has been in recovery and sober for 20 years, a single mom, and totally committed member of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City, CA. In both the preface and the Acknowledgements she mentions her gratitude to the members of St. Andrew and her pastor the Rev. Veronica Goines. She gives them credit for helping her become sober and a person of faith.

I have met both her pastor and several of the ladies from St. Andrew at Multicultural and can testify that the ladies were very loving people who reminded me of many of the mothers in my first church (also a largely African American congregation). Veronica is obvious an outstanding pastor and preacher.

I would recommend the book to any believer, for that matter any seeker, who is not offended by honesty and by unconventional ways of talking about the faith we share. I was enriched by reading about the lay ministries she is involved with, I quoted her last week in my sermon on belonging, and I probably will quote from the last chapter when I preach Sunday about eating and drinking with Jesus.

This is the paragraph: “The best way to change the world is to change your mind, which often requires feeding yourself. It makes for biochemical peace. It’s almost like a prayer: to be needy, to eat, to taste, to be filled, building up instead of tearing down. You find energy to do something your hadn’t expected to do, maybe even one of the holiest things: to go outside and stand under the stars, or to go for a walk in the morning, or in such hard times, both.”

I Am My Own Wife

My expectations were not particularly high when I went to Hartford Stage last Sunday night to see Doug Wright’s play, I Am My Own Wife. I have seen a number of plays with only a single actor or actress, and most have been disappointing. Not so with this play. Kathleen and I were both on the edge of our seats during the whole production, simply fascinated by the story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. I gather that the author did indeed interview her extensively, and what is portrayed is largely her self reports of her life as a transvestite; a man who dressed and lived as a woman and was openly the center of Gay and Lesbian life in Berlin during both the Nazi and the Soviet rule. The author enters into a brief discussion of the difference between her self accounts and official records as well as press reports, and leaves unanswered the question of how one might resolve these conflicts.

James Lecesne plays almost three dozen characters in the course of the play using little besides his voice, movement and gestures to convey who is speaking. His skill is unbelievable, and you believe you have met all these different people. Costuming is no more than a skirt, blouse, shoes and a string of pearls donned early in the first act, and a similar but slightly different outfit for the briefer second act. The staging is very minimal, although the skillful use of perspective makes the stage seem much deeper than it is. All of the extensive furniture is added only by Charlotte’s description of the unseen pieces.

We had seen Lecesne before is the fast paced farce The Mystery of Irma Vep. In I Am My Own Wife he displays an entirely different repertoire of skills. It is a play well worth seeing.

I am looking forward to the summer season when Hartford Stage will present The Good Body by Eve Ensler, and Mahalia, A Gospel Musical.

We visited our granddaughter Hannah Marie last weekend and took some pictures. To see more click here.

Of course we got back in time for service on Sunday, and then in the evening went to Hartford Stage to see an impressive presentation of "I Am My Own Wife" at Hartford Stage. I will say more about this in my next post.

Wedding Anniversary

Last Friday, April 20, 2007 Kathleen and I celebrated our 38th Wedding Anniversary (that is her pictured above). We had dinner at the Gelston House and then went next door to the Goodspeed Opera House where we saw the opening night of Singing in The Rain. It was a wonderful experience, the first time we had been to the Goodspeed (or the Gelston House) since coming to Connecticut nearly 10 years ago.

I did not expect to enjoy the play as much as I did. Broadway Musicals are a form of entertainment for which I have less appreciation than Kathleen does. However it was a very different experience seeing the production in a very small and intimate house (about 300 seats). It was an excellent performance, and made even more fun by the fact that the production started before you got into the Theater. I don't know if this will happen every night, but for opening night they had spotlights and a red carpet lined with actresses contumed as reporters with flash cameras and big microphones contucting interviews with play goers as we entered.

I also noted with some satisfaction that people really dressed for the theater. Coming from the south I have been shocked to see people come so casual to plays at both the Bushnell and Hartford stage. In Louisville you would see men in tuxedos for opening night at Actors Theatre, and the director always appeared on stage in Tux for the opening remarks. I didn't see a tux at this opening night, but I certainly didn't see cut off jeans either. Almost all the women had on fancy dresses, most of the men coats and ties.

I guess I am old fashioned, but I appreciate that!

The picture says it, Marriage Equality. Yesterday First Presbyterian hosted a prayer breakfast for Connecticut Clergy for Marriage Equality. After breakfast and a keynote speaker, Bishop John Selders we walked over to the press conference at the Capitol. Here is my set of pictures from the event. Another set by Chion Wolf

I just finished reading Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Joe Hill is the pen name of the son of Steven King, although you would never know it from reading the book. I only found this out and discovered the book because I heard an interview on NPR. I enjoyed the book, it was more than slightly scary. While he is not his father he has great potential as a horror writer. He has published short stories previously, but this is his first novel. I got the book at Boarders, it is probably widely available.

The premise of the book is that Jude Coyne, aging rock star, buys a ghost off the internet, and what comes in the mail in a heart shaped box is a suit. Along with the suit comes the ghost of the old man, who is determined to kill Jude and his present girlfriend. We soon discover that he has been duped into buying this ghost; it was sold to him by the sister of a previous and now deceased girlfriend. For the next 376 pages we are off on a trail of near insanity, mayhem, close calls and a final ending surprise. If you like this kind of escapist reading (the cover describes it as “Dark Fantasy”) it is worth buying.

I have begun on Anne Lamott’s newest book Grace (Eventually). I have only read the first chapter so far, but it promises to be as funny, tragic, redeeming and inspirational as her previous writings. What ever she writes I read; her thoughts on faith or her fiction (often close to autobiographical) are a seamless piece of insight into the wonderful adventure we call life. The bonus for me is that she is Presbyterian, a member of a Multicultural Church and I have been privileged to meet her pastor and some of the “Church Ladies” she so often mentions.

I also bought Robin Roberts’ new book, From the Heart – Seven Rules to Live By. There was an excellent and favorable review and interview published by Essence.com. Robin is officially a member of First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT. She joined when she was living in Farmington and working for ESPN. Although she has moved to New York and is now Co-Anchor on Good Morning America she maintains her membership here and attends occasionally. In person she is a wonderfully gracious person, just as she is on camera. One reason we went to Camp Coast Care for our Summer Youth Mission Trip and in February for our Adult Mission was that most of their work is in Pas Christian, Mississippi, which is where Robin grew up. Her mother still owns a home there, which like the rest of Pas Christian was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The next book I will be buying within the week (while it is 40% off for Borders Books members) is J.R.R.Tolkein's The Children of Hurin. I know he has been dead for 30 or so years, but his 83 year old son has edited this from other of his works, published and unpublished. It should be an interesting read.

Tragedy in Virginia

As I write on April 17 it is hard to think without thinking about the violence at Virginia Tech yesterday. We live in a violent society, a violent world. Despite admonitions in all of the worlds great religions against killing we know that murder has been welling up in the human heart from the very beginning. We find this expressed in the stories of our first parents how jealousy and hatred built up between their children and Cain rose up and killed Abel. We quickly learn two things from God’s dealing with this situation, first that God condemns murder, and second that God’s solution is not to murder (or execute) the murderer. The mark of Cain was given not to condemn him, but to protect him from others who might take his life.

While the problem of violence is not new, I believe that violence and particularly murder has become a greater problem in modern times than ever before. Despite the spread of education and “civilization” in our modern world the more civilized societies of modern times seem more violent than those of the more “primitive” past. The scale of the genocide in the Nazi holocaust was unprecedented in the previous history of the world; what is going on in Darfur is equally tragic. In a matter of days in August 1945 just two bombs killed thousands of Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an act of violence unparalleled in the history of the world. Yesterday we saw a single individual kill at least 33 people in a matter of hours. There may have been some motive for two of the killings that have been described as arising out of a love relationship, but the rest of the killings seem totally random.

What is the cause of such widespread violence; what can we do to change the direction of history?

I immediately think of three modern trends that contribute to the problem.

• One is the widespread availability of guns and explosives. It is much easier for a single individual or small group to perpetrate deadly violence with a gun or bomb than it ever was with clubs, knives, or the bow and arrow. While better control over the availability of firearms is not the sole answer (even today the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan was critically shot and Japan has very strict gun control) it is part of the answer. In a Presbyterian News Service article about religious reactions to the Virginia Tech tragedy the following comments speak to this concern: In Geneva, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Rev. Setri Nyomi said: “We pray to God that the families, friends and colleagues of the victims will some day find healing, ... We pray also for the United States of America and all nations as they struggle to overcome the temptation to rely on arms and as they work to find true security for all their peoples.”
  In New York, National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar echoed Nyomi’s call for an end to violence. “The escalation of gun violence compels us to call for an end to the manufacture and easy distribution of such instruments of destruction,” he said.
  “A faith that expresses compassion for all God’s children is opposed to violence in all forms,” Edgar continued, noting that numerous U.S. faith leaders “have spoken up continually about the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Despite repeated calls from faith and community leaders to Congress and presidents nothing ever seems to get done to stem the tide.”
• A second cause of violence in our society is a whole culture that both glamorizes violence and promotes it as a viable solution to personal and political problems. From mainstream television and movies to video games and rap music the media glamorizes violence, makes it seem normative, and worst of all perpetuates the myth that it is an acceptable, even necessary way to solve problems. The wildly popular television series 24 (which I love as a drama and hate to miss, but at the same time I hate with a passion as a propaganda piece) is as guilty as is the president of our nation of perpetuating the myth that we can solve the world’s problems by resort to violence and warfare. If violence is the answer to terrorism, oppressive governments, and civil war then how can we tell individuals that it is not a legitimate way to deal with their personal problems?
• Third, all the stress of living in a fast paced, urbanized, highly competitive and anonymous world increase the likelihood that individuals will loose hold of their sanity, their good sense, and their moral inhibitions.
  
  Is it not the Church’s business to promote a counter culture of peace and reconciliation, love and understanding? This underlines the importance of the simple act of lighting a candle for peace to stand as a beacon of hope calling us and all the world from darkness to light, from violence to peace. It is our business to build community instead of anonymity, to teach people to live deeper than the stresses of the present moment, to get in touch with the basic values of life and with the one who brings meaning and value to all of our lives.
  

Vestments as Costumes

This is me on Good Friday in the street procession. It was one cold and windy day. I usually wear a black cassock and the stole shown above for this event, but I felt I needed my winter coat and the Chasuble was the only vestment that would fit over my winter coat. Actually it did make a rather striking image accompanied by beret and earmuffs.

Seeing myself made me think of a Unitarian clergy friend who would never vest for services in the Church but who wears a Roman Collar and stole in peace protests. I asked her why she did this, since even more than Presbyterians Unitarians believe in the parity of clergy and laity. She said that street demonstrations were a form of theater, and costumes seemed legitimate in that context.

I do admit that sitting in the meeting of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday with my Equality sticker on I did think it would have been good to have on a Roman collar to be identifiable as clergy. [for out of state readers, the committee voted overwhelmingly to send a bill to the CT Legislature establishing same sex marriage. If passed we will be the first state to have marriage equality by action of the legislature. Mass had same sex marriage also, but it was mandated by the court system.) I have pretty much rejected wearing a clerical collar as making a distinction I do not want to preserve between clergy and lay people; but there are times when one legitimately wants to be recognized as clergy since society gives certain deference to clergy as opinion leaders.

Follow this link for more pictures from the Procession on Good Friday and services on Easter Sunday.

This is the bread I baked for Easter. It is a Greek Easter Bread variously called Tsoureki or Lambropsomo. Literally translated Tsoureki means "braided; while Lambropsomo means "Easter Bread. I downloaded several recipes four years ago and amazingly this recipe is still on line at Fabulous Foods at the same URL as it was in April 03. The only variation I made in the recipe was to add 2 teaspoons of anise seeds from another recipe.

For dinner we ate a half a leg of lamb fixed Greek Style with lots of herbs and garlic, roasted potatoes, spring asparagus and a store bought pie. The pie did come from Trader Joe's, and their deserts are generally outstanding.

What a great Holy Week and Easter. We had services with Westminster Presbyterian on Holy Thursday, Good Friday Center City Churches organized a processional on Main Street, praying at significant sites for Peace and justice, reconciliation and healing. Despite an overcast sky and bitter cold winds 65 people participated.

Easter at First Presbyterian Church was great, 125 people attended, the church was filled with Easter Lillies, we had great music on trumpet, organ and piano along with the choir and congregation singing. I had a good sermon, and it was short, less than ten minutes! Follow this link for pictures from Good Friday and Easter.

We had no guests for dinner, but Kathleen and I had a wonderful Easter Dinner, we roasted a half a leg of Lamb (with lots of Garlic and Herbs) and served with roasted potatoes and fresh Asparagus, and had an apple pie for desert. (I didn't make it, but Trader Joes sells great pies.)

Hope For Spring

Despite the cold and a prediction of lows tonight in the upper 30s the first jonquils are blooming in the Church Garden. The sun is out today - on Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of the one we hail as the Hope of the World.

It seems nice to me that both the Western and Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on the same day this year, although a friend told me that his Orthodox friends were disappointed that they couldn't go and get their Easter Candy for half price on the Monday after Western Easter.

PRAYING FOR JUSTICE ON THE STREET CORNERS
On Good Friday March 6, 2007 we hope to have hundreds of people take a walk on Hartford's Main St. to pray on the street corners, following Jesus' Cross, praying for justice, for peace for reconciliation and for healing for our city. Check out and feel free to circulate our flier. If you want to see the liturgy before participating check it out here.

I have emailed this information rather widely and one response I received was from a person who is part of the Connecticut Network of Spiritual Progressives. I followed her link to their website and was tremendously impressed. I certainly felt a spiritual link to the values and ideas expressed. You might be interested also.

SAME SEX MARRIAGE
I listened yesterday to a part of the 12 hours of testimony for and against the bill before the Joint Judiciary Committee to authorize same sex marriage in Connecticut. I had testified two years ago, but did not this year, but as I listened I really wanted to say something. Again and again legislators seemed to be saying in one way or another that they didn't want to discriminate against gays and lesbians (no one mentioned bisexual or transgendered), but that the legislature had already given them all the rights of marriage through civil unions. Several of them kept on at Anne Stanback wanting to know why it was so important to call same sex relationships "marriages."

What this sounds like to me is the same old separate but equal argument that we rejected when it came to rights for African Americans. There were people in the 1950s who wanted to know why Rosa Parks was not satisfied to sit in the back of the bus. After all the back of the bus is going the same place as the front.

Why do LGBT people want marriages, civil unions get them the same rights.?