David Mixner released the first of a four part series, “Oh Lord Not Now” today about the future of the LGBT civil rights movement and our community’s dreadful lack of courage to forge ahead now rather than later. Mixner wrote:
The cabal of powerful decision makers wants everything to be safe, clean and perfect before moving. Don’t upset anyone, don’t jump ahead of ourselves and most of all don’t deviate from a well-laid plan that hopefully will eventually lead to victory. Every one of our allies has to be comfortable, the polls have to show us way ahead, and proof of victory has to be assured before trying anything new. The unpredictable grassroots could be destructive and create instability.
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Except that it doesn’t fit any model of success that I have seen in my near 50 years of organizing. In fact, my journey has proven to me that the unpredictable often is just the stimulus that movements need; victory often comes from an unplanned event that organizers could not have pulled off if they had worked years to do it. Most candidates would never be elected to office if they waited for their turn, had hard proof of victory and listened to the political pros. Our own current president is a perfect example of this fact.
I applaud Mixner’s reasoned argument against the wait and see mentality that has brought us little but a smattering of states rights and a Senate addicted to our campaign contributions but unwilling to act swiftly to bring us equality. Mixner boldly calls a duck a duck:
Along the way, we are allowing even our allies to abuse language in order to slow down our fight for full equality and freedom. We get nervous when we call the system currently being put in place Apartheid although that is exactly our current situation.
Our community is separated from the heterosexual community in countless ways. We are not only apart because of differences in legal recognition of our relationships (if we have any at all), but we are apart because of different standards for workplace fairness. Our elected representatives are forgiven time and time again for their lack of courage so that executives within our corporate orgs can claim progress by counting the stack of cocktail reception invitations.
The grassroots must take the lead at the federal level because we are not bridled down by corporate donors, boards, or anyone else for that matter. We are only limited by our own courage and willingness to dedicate time and money towards our pursuits. I am very encouraged by The Equality Accross America campaign launched by Cleve Jones, David Mixner and others. Their decentralized approach will revitalize the grass roots and continue the great work that organizations such as Join the Impact are already strongly engaged in.
Of coarse like any campaign the concept can be strong. The goal can be sincere and straigt forward, “equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states,” and the time can be now; but none of this really matters if individuals are not engaged and ready to work. Equality Accross America has a map with little dots to symbolize a congressional district organizer. Let’s fill up that map. Let’s get to work. Let’s end the Apartheid once and for all!
