From a speech delivered by Joy Silver during RainbowVision Santa Fe's 3rd birthday celebration, June 27, 2009.

RainbowVision Santa Fe Investors, Members, Staff, Emerald City Foundation Members, RainbowVision Properties Principals Family Members, Loved Ones and Allies:

This weekend marks both the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots that took place in Greenwich Village New York, as well as of Judy Garland’s death.

The two things are related in that the sheer number of LGBT people attending Garland’s funeral in NY let us experience empowerment through seeing our strength in numbers.

The experience served as the inspiration to resist the police raid of the Stonewall Inn- forever marking the advancement of LGBT civil rights. It was the moment we left our symbolic oppressor behind.

This is a story we have heard before. An oppressed people left Egypt and spent forty years in the desert, and they, too spent 40 years of dissolving the bonds of oppression and recovering from emotional, spiritual and physical slavery. Like those people of ancient times, we LGBT people and our Allies are celebrating our moment of moving from being a population to learning to become a Community.

This afternoon, I feel blessed to be able to say, “Welcome to RainbowVision Santa Fe”.

Because this is a celebration-
a celebration, of survival -
A celebration against all odds,

A celebration that is riding the waves of the mortgage crisis.
A celebration in spite of businesses closing down all around us
A celebration in the face of the world economic crisis

It is a celebration of moving from ideals to reality-
A celebration of the progress of all of us,
Together,
Having learned from each other
As to what it takes to become a community.

So it’s no coincidence that, today, we are celebrating the third birthday of RainbowVision Santa Fe.

Because in the number three, we can see three stages of love.
That of Passion, of Intimacy and of Commitment.
It is said that the love we feel is based on the strength of these three things working together.

So:
Year One, then, might be seen as the Year of Passion
The passion that drove physical materialization and our move to this land -
The move from an idea to its physical form.

Year Two can be seen as the experience of Intimacy:
The year we found out who we are, what brings us together,
And what drives us apart.

And Year three, might be seen as the year of Commitment:
This year some of us are deciding if we stay together or move on.
And for those of us who have already decided to stay together -
We are looking at our shared achievements
And where we go next
And how we get there.

As we move into our fourth year, which represents the making real of the vision,
I, for one, look forward to our next year as one of great compassion-
And understanding,
And stability.

Happy Birthday RainbowVision Santa Fe. May all of our dreams come true.