The Amendment One result was par for the course for many who expected the South to claim another anti-LGBT victory, but for those of us in ground zero making calls, going door to door, and trying to bolster every shred of funding we possibly could, the result was also devastating. We knew it was a long shot that the Amendment would be voted down, but every single person fighting this was still holding on to the hope that reason might overcome misinformation and hate in our state. To quote Harvey Milk, “Hope will never be silent.” Out of the ashes of this defeat rise some important insights about campaigning for LGBT rights in the South, lessons not just for the minority progressive voters in NC (a minority that is gaining steadily, if a little too slowly, on the religious right), but for all citizens supporting the rights of the LGBT community in the US.
Continued below the fold…
For those of you who have never lived in the South, a little background: The mega churches own this region of the country. Their congregations range in numbers from the hundreds to the thousands, and they are everywhere. Even driving through my neighborhood in a fairly progressive city you can easily pass five large churches if you take the right route. I can pass two just walking the dog. (I would like to note that I am in no way against anyone’s right to practice their own religion. Spirituality is a personal choice that everyone in this country has a right to.) There were plenty of churches here in NC that urged their congregations to vote against, but for every church on the “no” side, there were five pushing votes “for.” The anti-Amendment groups ran ads and placed educators at any appropriate public functions to combat the misinformation being spewed from these pulpits, but we didn’t have near the organization or in-state funding of the mega churches.
And thus we come to lesson numero uno: In order to have any hope of getting this type of legislation repealed in the South, we have to have out-of-state funding from the LGBT community. Nowhere in the current South will you find enough donors for the marriage equality cause to raise the kind of money these churches had to pour into the pro-Amendment agenda. The against side did remarkable things on a shoe string budget. The Amendment passed, but by a slimmer margin than similar legislation in any other Southern state. Studies showed again and again that the more people were educated about the far-reaching legal effects of Amendment One, the more likely they were to oppose it. We just didn’t have the funds to reach everyone, especially in outlying rural communities. Imagine what we could have done with national support. It might have still passed, but by a much narrower margin.
Lesson number two: Part of the reason we couldn’t get enough funding to stand up against the Right was that we got very little front page national coverage until a few weeks before the vote, after which time it was too late to start more education initiatives or run more ads. Which brings me to a small gripe: Kos, why in hell were there no articles about Amendment One on the front page until AFTER the damn thing passed? Front page coverage on here could have garnered us so much more support, but instead you thought it more pertinent to boost up a billion and one articles about Romney? I love this community, but you let me down.
Anyway, back to business. Boycotting something as abstract as an entire state’s physical and intellectual exports isn’t practical, not to mention the fact that there are about 30 states with anti-gay legislation that we’d have to boycott. So let’s focus that rage into a more practical boycott. Part of the reason the LGBT rights side of this fight has so much trouble gaining support across the country is UNFAIR and UNBALANCED coverage from networks like FoxNews and CNN (who I like to call ‘FoxNews Lite’). We can write letters demanding coverage, but the best place to hit these media giants is in their wallets. If you see networks not granting coverage to LGBT issues (or showing one-sided coverage), find out who their advertisers are and boycott their products. Start petitions to these companies demanding that they pull their ads. If the whole LGBT community gets on board with this, it won’t make financial sense for them not to cover our issues, and financial sense is the only kind of sense news media has.
Which feeds nicely into my last Amendment One lesson: We have to stick together. For too long now, state battles over anti-gay legislation have been seen as just that: State battles. It’s nice and all to post a Facebook status in solidarity with LGBT citizens and allies in a state struggling against legislation like Amendment One, but our fights need more substantial support. The pro-LGBT community is a minority in NC. It is a minority in the Democratic party, and in the nation. If we are ever going to win the war, we have to support each other in these small battles.
Since the Amendment passed, I’ve seen a lot of comments on Kos and elsewhere to the tune of “F**k those bigots in NC,” “Let’s boycott NC,” “Let the bigots have the south! We should have let them secede,” etc. This is the exact OPPOSITE of the attitude we need as a community if we are ever going to achieve equal rights. Instead of waiting until after legislation like this passes and screaming “boycott,” perhaps you should get involved while there is still a chance to defeat the hateful measure in question. There were phone banks online in which out-of-state participants could make calls to educate people in NC. Did any of you “let them secede,” commenters pick up the phone? Did you send money to organizations like EqualityNC or Protect ALL NC Families that were running ads? I know the links were posted in articles on Kos. Did you start petitions of solidarity to send a message to NC voters? No? Well then you are just as much at fault as anyone for this amendment passing.
In order for equal rights campaigns to succeed in ANY state we have to support each other’s causes with more than just nice words and reading up on the issue a week before it goes to vote. If you have the money, donate to support organizations MONTHS in advance of the vote. Organize fundraisers. Write letters to your state’s politicians, urging them to support other state’s LGBT fights. As someone who stood in front of the NC General Assembly and protested on the day this amendment passed the senate, and has been fighting tooth and nail against it ever since, I'll tell you this: If all you did was wait until last night to post hateful comments about its passage, I’ll thank you to keep your comments to yourself from now on. They accomplish nothing. Instead, why not focus our energy as a community on fighting these injustices again and again until they’re just something our grandkids ask us about: “People were really that intolerant back then?”
If you would still like to get involved in North Carolina’s struggle against Amendment One, there are a few ways. There is a petition to the Supreme Court going around, and I’m pretty sure people outside NC can sign too. (And I know the comments are going to be flooded with “It’ll never get overturned with THIS conservative court.” You may be right. So I guess that means we shouldn’t try at all, huh? Because that attitude is totally what ended segregation in the South.) Also, Southern Equality started their NC We Do campaign today, running until May 15. Committed same-sex couples around NC will be applying for marriage licenses in protest of inequality. You can donate, or write letters of support to participating couples.
I haven’t been able to find any sites for donations or voter education for the Maryland marriage referendum in November, but if anyone knows of any feel encouraged to post them in the comments.