Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: The Gay Marriage Equality Summit
Queerty has some interesting reflections and footage from the conference in Los Angeles this past weekend. Although it was supposed to be a meeting about California’s battle for marriage equality, the questions and issues seem to be indicative of problems with the movement as a whole.
1. There is no leadership.
Queerty pointed out that those who lead the No on 8 campaign were just those who showed up. There is no sense of who the community leaders are and what their responsibility is. For the religious right, the hierarchy is somewhat already in place. But for the gay community, definition of community, let alone the leaders, causes problems. Some might say that the leaders should be those in charge of the largest organizations in the country, however the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force did not come to the fore in the original Prop 8 struggle. Which leads me to my next point…
2. There is no fundraising strategy.
The Human Rights Campaign spent only 6 million dollars on the No on 8 drive. That’s compared to the over 40 million dollars spent by the No on 8 side as a whole. Building a movement takes a lot of money (Barack Obama showed us that) and even a cute grassroots campaign needs a serious dollar influx. The gay community needs a fundraising center – a place where the dollars can go and the leadership can determine the likelihood of success and failure in its spending strategies. HRC didn’t make Proposition 8 a priority so our money didn’t help that struggle. This is probably because it was a state specific issue…..
3. There is no strategy.
There hasn’t been a huge effort to determine where dollars are best spent and which campaigns will have the most impact. I think that a focus on DOMA exclusively will be the most effective strategy in the long run and a way to engage HRC and the NLGTF across the country. Likely Prop 8 was thought of as a discreet issue and no one anticipated what a lightning rod it would be for the entire country. Someone needs to be running those numbers and picking the battles.
Now, it’s never fun to succumb to leadership you didn’t elect to run campaigns you don’t control about issues you may not have picked. But what Queerty’s account illustrates is that choices have to be made. Just the act of making the choice will be effective. For my money, put the HRC in charge, focus on DOMA, and fun a huge fundraising drive to raise awareness about the struggle for national marriage rights.
Of course, we all love to hate the HRC, so I assume many of you will object to my strategy. Still, the important thing is to have a plan. What’s yours?
Leadership…like someone needs to be the “head gay”? There is no election for that.
From obscurity, Harvey Milk stepped up to the plate and said he was in charge. No one challenged it. And he went against and challenged “The Advocate” and the “queens of SF” (the modern day HRC).
Who’s the next Harvey?
LOrian, I agree with you. Some congress members are on our side. Bless them. We should keep building coalitions. One thing I have to say about our community is that we need to quit the name calling, especially on people who don’t support gay marriage.It’s not helping our cause thus far. MOST OVERUSED PHRASES:They are bigots, religious hatemongers, we are being thrown under the bus, we are being sent to the back of the bus,other ethnic minorities should know better, Rick Waren, Obama is throwing us under the bus. Obama still hasn’t repelled DADT. Come on guys, we need to be smart even as we fight.
Don’t believe me (see below) here is
Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.): “We cannot keep turning our backs on gay and lesbian Americans. I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I’ve heard the reasons for opposing civil marriage for same-sex couples. Cut through the distractions, and they stink of the same fear, hatred, and intolerance I have known in racism and in bigotry.”
So its back to reinventing our ‘movement’…lets just keep everyone involved for now. The more noise the better. Let PFLAG really help people…HRC throw their parties, ACLU fight for us all…
AND NOW we have congress! Dont believe me, just read this piece by
MJones on change.org
gayrights.change.org/blog/view/members_of_congress_supporting_marriage_equality
For once, I agree with Ruby-Sachs. Mostly.
I will add that most gay people I speak with place most the blame for the No on 8 campaign with its failed leadership. EQ California perhaps more than the others deserves the lion’s share of the blame as they were outspoken in their opposition to show gay families in the commercials or look at the religion angle to combat the churches.
I firmly believe that we need to quit preaching to the choir by advertising and promoting to the major population centers where the majority of our supporters live. Instead we now need to focus on bridge building with churches and religious leaders. Marriage IS NOT just a civil rights issue. Its also a freedom of religion issue. The Mormon and Catholic churches shouldn’t be able to dictate to all the other churches who they can and can’t marry. This is the message we should be pressing with all the other denominations.
Whatever is done must make use of the Join the Impact people. They aren’t perfect, but only they were able to harness the feelings of motivated people, even outside the USA, in response to Prop 8’s passage. I don’t think the people in the Human Rights Closet know how to deal with that. The era of top-down is over.