First and foremost, I would like to say to those of you who have been dumping on Obama for his lack of unequivocal support on CA prop 8, there are other GLBT issues out there that in many GLBT people's minds rank higher in priority than the marriage issue. Second of all, I'm sure I don't need to remind you that he did, during the course of the campaign, go into the lion's den and issue a plea with our opposition for tolerance and an end to bigotry against us. And third, to be singling out and blaming any racial group for our defeat is totally unacceptable!
So where do we go from here? We lick our wounds and live to fight another day. And with more conviction than ever we push the angle MA & CT used to grant us our equality and the tact which Obama does support, which is "you do not vote on people's civil rights".
And in case you've forgotten, straight folks do out number us by at least 9 to 1. So are these results from CA & FL & AZ surprising, given who we had to fight against? The courts are still our best weapons. No matter what the polls say, on any gay rights issue, ever, anywhere, we must push hard for the courts to be the primary and final arbiter.
Anyone who thought this battle for marriage equality would be easy and not come with major setbacks and disappointments is delusional. Check CSM's tag line, he's had that same tag line for 4-5 years here! So we lost this round and it sucks. In my estimation it is foolish and inefficient to fight these wars on a state-by-state basis from now on. It's obvious that the piecemeal approach will be a much, much longer road and will leave huge swaths of the country living with inequality. We need to win this in the courts. You simply do not vote on people's civil rights!!!! And if we did, those handful of remaining red states would still deny interracial couples the right to marry in all likelihood.
Our principal line of attack needs to focus on the judiciary. We need to be vigilant and keep our senators from supporting any homophobic appointments to any level of the judiciary. Senator Feinstein is terribly guilty of abandoning us in this regard. The Courage Campaign in CA has taken the lead on this once already. And we need to scout out judges who are subtly GLBT friendly and can get by SCOTUS filibusters by the bigots in the senate.
Please remember that we didn't become organized as a community until Act-Up lit a fire under us 20 odd years ago. The racial civil rights movement started in earnest roughly 20 years before that, and there are large areas of the country where racial bigotry still rules the day. And further, much of mainstream religious indoctrination teaches that GLBT people are sinners and they have been pounding this into people's brains for literally thousands of years now. And you are surprised we are still having to reeducate large numbers of folks? So we'll lick our wounds, get reorganized and refocussed and fight a smarter battle next time. And we'll keep fighting until we too reach the mountain top.
When we started trying to pull the concept of WGLB together, 6-8 months ago, I tried valiantly to get the GLBT/DailyKos community to coalesce around this weekly series to make our voices resonate more powerfully in the greater community here. Well, we've had some success, especially with our donut brigade, slapping down some of the more serious homophobes on the site. (Well done Everyone and thank you!) However, we still are missing a great number of GLBT regulars, many high profile GLBT members have yet to join us, to help us speak with an even louder voice. We need to discuss ways to bring these folks on board. I personally feel that our number one failing in both the CA initiative and in any political statement we try to make on our own behalf is a lack of cohesion. Yes, we are a very divergent community but if we cannot put aside our go it alone, fragmentary approach to political issues we are destined to continue to be the tail unsuccessfully trying to wag the dog. So I think that should be our focus, along with continuing to reach out to our straight allies who have been amazingly dedicated in their support for us in this fight. Because obviously even if we did manage to get 100% of GLBT folks on board and on the same page politically, we would still require >41% of the voting straight population on our side to achieve any victories at the ballot box.
anotherdemocrat provided the following link to an organization that helps along these lines. Please give me reference to any others you might care to add to our list of resources on the WGLB home page here. Thanks.
Atticus Circle:
And it is time for our country to acknowledge that the right to love a partner, be a parent and build a family is a fundamental, equal right for each and every one of us.
Today we need your help to win this "civil rights battle rooted in love." We need you to add your voice to the growing number of our friends who say, "This just isn’t right." We invite you to come into the Atticus Circle and stand with others who say, "I’m ready. What can I do?"
Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California—and she won't be paying the state a dime.
The Boycott Utah movement is gaining strength!
The Courage Campaign has started a petition to repeal Prop 8. Please sign it.
Lastly, we need to welcome Uncertain Physicist to our fold. He wrote a very nice diary last night, his first I might add. In case you missed it, go give him some recs.