Once upon a time little -gays- and- lesbians- to-be learned early to keep it quiet. Boys, drop those books down to your side walking down the halls... girls, keep the butch on the down low, tom-boy after a certain age was just not ok. If you say all the right things and act a certain way, they will let you be gay and still let you come to the birthday parties, but you have to be on your best behaviour - meaning you know, not really all that gay. You are welcome to have your Mark , Rick or Steve... just do not EVER let us know what ya'll do when not dressed alike acting all straight......
Over the last couple of months I have spent some time with some early twenty something out and proud " kids" ..and this may be one of the most shocking things you have ever read on the k+b but: " it was not a total waste of time".. they were not all just waists of space with nice hair. If anything Neil and I have been very energized by them. For how long has the GLBT community been told " IT will come, just wait.. equality, freedom, are on the way, sit still and the grown up powers that be will bring it to you". The movement that started at Stonewall and came , painfully of age, with ACT UP, has thickend and greyed into the molasses in Winter movement of The HRC and its ilk. These " kids" don't want any part of waiting on the sidelines for gay Santa to drop equality down the chimney.
" What do we want ? "
"Marriage Equality"
"When do we want it ?"
" NOW"
Well, my response was yesterfuckingday, but the rest of the crowd was happy with now.
This is causing quite a divide with in the lgbt community. Today in the Bilerico Report , a Diane Silver, " dyke activist" ( no idea who she is...) went off in a little blog post on how these young kids today with their long hair and marches on Washington and all are just ruining the movement that she has worked so hard on. From Ms. Silver:
All of these disagreements, differences and offerings are, in fact, nothing more than signs that those of us who've been battling for decades respect your efforts. We need your energy, passion, refusal to compromise and new ideas. But you also need us old folks, along with our knowledge, skills and our willingness to work. Perhaps what frightens me the most is that you seem to think you don't.
Age, by the way, is a slippery concept. If you're in your 20s or 30s and see yourself in my rant, then I am pointing my finger at you. But being chronologically young doesn't mean one's immature, and being in one's 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th decade doesn't mean one's wise. Yesterday, 46-year-old Andrew Sullivan fell into the immaturity trap, but I'll leave the discussion of that for another time. This post is already long enough. " What she is berating Andrew Sullivan about is the fact that he linked to a page for a group in Maine that is taking to the streets, going to do their own March on Freedom, ala Selma to Montgomery. How dare these whippersnappers fight back after having marriage taken away from them!
Right here in our own home, Neil got the smack down from an Integrity person for trying to post on the Integrity web site our actual experiences in Albany this week. They wanted some happy talk posting stolen from AP, Neil wanted to tell the truth about what happened to US that day. He was told :
"In the future, if you want to submit posts to our blog, here are the guidlines: we need to be positve, affirming and hopeful in our messaging. We do not change hearts and minds with negative communications. It is our intention to be collaborative, and supportive, not critical. Integrity has worked for many years to be in a position of influence and we will lose that position if we move away from positive messaging."
New rule: I do not give a flying rats ass about your heart and mind. You are more than free to wake up , every morning, full of the knowledge that I am going to burn in hell because I am married to Neil. This is America, you have that right. What I do care about are MY Constitutional rights, and that the vote of a slim majority does not get to take away the rights of a tiny minority. Any questions?
If it takes a few college kids out in the streets, making at long last, a little noise, raising a little hell out there to get some change started, then so be it. If you , clad in your HRC polo get a little offended by their in your face attitudes , then so be it. It is time for a little lead , follow or get out of the way time. In this case, Mother ( or Father) does not know best.
2 comments:
Excellent post.
Going all rogue, are we?
In this day and age, when what the world really needs is more civility?
Civil rights movements need both good cops and bad. Think Andy and Hosea. Cobb Citizens Coalition and Olympics out of Cobb.
This happened in “the” civil rights movement, too. It was called Black Power. Stokey Carmichael, in fact, got his start with SNCC right here in Atlanta. Those students were too young to see that the old guard was beginning to realize its efforts to register voters and elect blacks to office -- working through (rather than despite) the system for change. The younger activists wanted what was right and they wanted it right then. The old guard was afraid all this noise would blow it and they’d never have a seat at the table.
Is that similar to what’s happening now? more established gay rights groups, with millions invested in lobbying all these years, have worked long and hard to gain access to the sausage factory.
Younger activists may not understand how long it takes to make sausage. To stretch this porky metaphor further than it should go, it follows that if the old guard doesn’t bring home some bacon soon, they’re going to lose their youthful constituency – and lose control of it, too.
Which, if they’d play it right, could be powerful motivation for change.
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