In a June 18 article in Huffington Post, Max Munchnick laments the absence of a prominent national gay leader, a "Martin Luther Queen" and aims criticism at President Obama for not staking out a stronger leadership role, going so far as to suggest that he, the President of the United States, should be that leader. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I agree with his sentiment but not his aim at Obama. Obama is NOT to be OUR leader. He is to be the leader of all Americans. If gays have no national leader (a Mousavi or MLK for gays?) then it is because we have no man or woman strong enuf in character to be one, or the willingness to do it. Harvey Milk touched at the edges of national leadership, but a white phobe murdered him.
It takes strength of conviction combined with REAL knowledge of the issues and all the various social, religious and historical dynamics to be that kind of leader. It also takes a following that gives a damn. In my city the gay community (generally speaking, there are exceptions) couldn't care less about politics and we are, after all, talking politics here. Cynicism and apathy are endemic. Their social lives revolve, separately and, I suspect typically, around elite cliques, student groups, lesbians and the bar scene. There is no cohesion among them worth the word tho we do have an embryonic LGBT center. It would take a tragedy like someone shooting up one of our gay bars or our LGBT center to break the apathy. We really are too comfortable, come right down to it.
I am self-educated on gay issues with a personal library on the subject twice my arm span and probably have a Masters on the subject in my head. I am knowledgeable. For years I have written numerous guest columns and countless opinion letters on gay issues in our regional newspaper and, from what I can gather, few gays know that.....or me (perhaps because I don't LIVE at the bar). In other words, they are paying no attention to their own political welfare. Over 15 years I have received many compliments from the str8 community. Of compliments, I can count the ones from gays on one hand while other comments from gays were of the who-the-fuck-you-think-you-are-speaking-for-us type. WTF?!?! Literally, no one else was putting their head on the block.....then. That is changing a bit now. I like to think I paved the way for such public daring tho many of those now writing probably don't even know of mine.
There is also the not-so-small matter of leadership "territory". There is little doubt in my mind that the national gay "community" is dominated by the so-called "elite" and us little people who don't have fantastic jobs, a lot of money, knock-your-sox-off travel and liberal education resumes, and all the stuff of "good" conversation and social "respectability" can't get anywhere beyond "Mr Gay name your city" (and most of THEM haven't the wit or drive to go beyond that anyway).
Max is correct that a charismatic national leader would be helpful. We are millions and if we could unite behind a strong voice we'd have stunning power. But I go back to the apathy. Where there are few followers, there can be no leader. It should be obvious here that I feel passionately about gay issues but beyond my local efforts, I don't know where to go with that passion. So here I sit very likely similar to other potential leaders around the country, doing local activism and maybe making a difference in the small ways locally and regionally which surely counts for something, but no one, so far is rising to the top. And speaking of territorial imperatives, is there even space up there for that one charismatic leader?
And when someone more prominent, a Max Munchnick for instance, laments the absence of a "Martin Luther Queen", I hesitate to pursue what I might otherwise wish for. I am no queen. I have no problem with bikini hunks on floats or dykes on bikes, but the prevalence of the "old queen" stereotype even among us, the young flamers addressing each other as "girl", the pervasiveness of stereotypically careless "faggy" mannerisms (the screamers), the flaunting of tits and asses, and the incomprehensible attraction of drag (and the media's attention to it)......I want no part of that. To hell with political correctness. Brash, ill-mannered, grotesque behavior simply does not deserve OUR acceptance let alone that of the general society. And you PC defenders out there...don't EVEN bother to throw the Stonewall drag queens at me. They may have had the "balls" to first resist the cops, but they were hauled off the scene in the first hours and became, ultimately, a very small minority of those involved in the 3-day demonstrations.
Don't get me wrong. There are those among the queer community who genuinely suffer various injustices, but the in-your-face behavior you KNOW I'm talking about is a political liability that undercuts serious leadership and everyone with an ounce of intellectual honesty knows it. Potential leaders quietly understand that. Maybe that's why our "great leader" won't come forth. I, for example, have no desire to be associated with the kind of behavior I have noted here. I could not speak for all of what we now call the "queer" community which now includes so many letters it's ridiculous. I can't get motivated.
My sons, both military officers, know I'm gay and we've had good conversations about it. I've shared with them my belief that "Being gay is problematic enuf in our society, at least be a man about it." They respect that sentiment, and me and I have reason to suspect most gay men feel the same way. Ditto that sentiment, perhaps even moreso, among lesbians.
When we do not behave politically and socially conscientiously, we are our own worst enemies. We may get a degree of tolerance, but we cannot expect general societal acceptance. Like it or not, we are a minority and we cannot hope for the success of our goals without changing societal perceptions of us. We need a leader who understands that and I'm sure there are many among us who do. But we face a contradiction. Such a leader would need the broad following, but potential leaders are intimidated by the political correctness that insists every flake be included. Thus, political correctness keeps us fractured. If you doubt that, pay attention to the rhetoric (what little there is) of the national gay "leadership" and you will note how careful they are with their references when they speak for "all" of "us".
We need to decide what is gay and what is just crawling out from under rocks before we can expect a national leader to put him or her self out front and who, after all, may be risking his or her very life for us. Harvey Milk was a dynamic leader, but of a limited area, San Francisco, where he could get away with being that other part of his character, a "queen". For that reason, had he lived, I suspect his leadership would never have gotten beyond that city. That may not be right, but it's reality. We could use a strong national leader, but he will have to be a King.