It may be coincidental that June is LGBT pride month and also the month in which Netroots Nation takes place, but the two events came together in an amazing way in Providence, RI last week. It wasn't the many panels and caucuses surrounding marriage equality, or the large number of activists and allies present. That was great. In fact, I think it was important for many of us to get to sit down with those pushing the campaigns for marriage equality in states like Washington, Maryland, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Maine and others. It was important to hear voices like those of Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend or Joe Jervis of Joe. My. God. and many other LGBT activists and bloggers from around the nation. What was really striking, though, was the support for LGBT rights and marriage equality which we heard from others. Senators. Candidates. Unions.
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I managed to hear most of the keynote speakers, and was really struck by the message that marriage equality and LGBT rights are mainstream, important and integral to progressive Democratic policy today. NAACP director Ben Jealous addressed this in what was, in my opinion, an historic address to the convention. Elizabeth Warren and other women in or running for office addressed this issue. Van Jones talked about it. Everyone talked about it. I had the opportunity to engage Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island on the issue. You name them, they talked about it. The support for our rights was nearly overwhelming, and truly moving.
What really stood out, however, was hearing other minority groups at the convention asking the question "LGBT folks are winning their fight. How do we do things more like they are doing them? How do we learn from the action they are taking?". Think about that for a minute. That is huge. Now I don't want to count the chickens before they hatch--we must not, we have a lot of fighting yet to come--but it's clear that we are winning. Our struggle for our civil rights is becoming mainstream, a given, a no-brainer in progressive politics. Those on the fence about LGBT rights are increasingly leaning toward embracing our struggle. Democrats like the President and Vice President and advocacy groups like the NAACP are embracing our struggle and allying themselves with us. Just a year ago, this would have been unthinkable.
I can remember--and it was not that long ago--when a diary about LGBT rights on Daily Kos would spark a comment thread about how we should "wait our turn". Recently, someone GBCW'd lamenting the fact that teh gay had taken over Daily Kos. Instead of a thread suggesting that maybe this was true, the reaction to that diary was to call BS on the idea. This is a major change in attitude here at this blog, just as I observed a major change in attitude with politicians and activists at Netroots Nation.
We've got a lot of work to do. But with allies like the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and any number of elected officials, we've got help doing the heavy lifting. By highlighting our struggle--even when preaching to the choir of Netroots Nation--our allies are making it clear that our fight is their fight. It's a mainstream idea. Even the Democratic party platforms of Texas and Montana call for marriage equality.
Thank you, all of you, who are allies for LGBT rights. The support for our rights I witnessed at Netroots Nation was deeply moving. As for my fellow queers, we rocked Netroots Nation. Because we rock.