For all who are absolutely opposed to aggressive protests, I must remind you that the decade in which civil rights legislation was finally passed that guaranteed the Black community its full and equal citizenship under the law was filled with violence. I lived though it, I was a teenager then. It was the 1960s.

So, what event happened that ultimately brought equality to Blacks? It wasn’t Martin Luther King’s laudable march to Selma and his peaceful protests — which usually ended in him being set upon by police dogs and put in jail. No, it was the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the weeks of rioting nationwide that ensued, which scared the holy sh*t out of the White supremacists in all branches of government and in all walks of life. They finally realized that this dog bites back and that you kick it at your own peril.

The billions of dollars in property damage nationwide, coupled with a tsunami of sudden fear and insecurity felt by White people, forced the White majority to respect the rights of the 13% of Americans who were Black and who were also fed up at being treated like dirt; forced to conform to second class citizenship, and even murdered — kind of like the GLBT community today. So, in that instance, peaceful protests did not work, but fear of retaliation from the oppressed did work.

I hear time and time again from the nervous Nancys and appeasers in our community about how we should all be on the “down low” or else we will face the fearsome “backlash” –such as the sweeping anti-marriage inequality amendments of the last fifteen years throughout the United States.

But ask yourself this: If there would have been violent riots, by the GLBT community, in the first state to have passed such a vile amendment, how eager would the rest of the states have been to pass them? If there would have been massive civil unrest on an enormous scale, thousands of times larger than the Stonewall Riots across the nation, how could they ignore us then?

Just look how everybody, worldwide, knows about our little uprising at the Stonewall tavern in New York in the late 60s. They even have a civil rights group called “Stonewall” in England — and it wasn’t even their riot. So why is Stonewall remembered and not one damn “peaceful” protest celebrated or even recalled in our movement?

Why? Because Stonewall was transitional and transformational. And not because it was peaceful, but because it was a violent rejection of the presumed privilege of a heterocentric society and its defenders. We finally stood up to the bullies. And bullies usually only pick on people which they are confident will not fight back. What a shock Stonewall must have been to them

Bullies, like bigots, are cowards and will often back down if you push back. Be pro-active. Organize sit-ins and join national boycotts (it worked against Coors beer — remember?). Target the states who have added anti-gay amendments to the their so-called “Bill of Rights” i.e. State Constitutions. Encourage others to not vacation in those states or to purchase products made in those states. Make it clear what you are doing and also make it very clear that you will work actively against any politician (including the current president) who is not working on what we also elected them for — our civil rights.

To be certain, sure remember and celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Stonewall this year, but let’s make our own Stonewalls today as well.

Also, really ask yourself this: What the f*ck have we done since then? Isn’t it far past time that we do something historical again?

© “Bud” E. Lewis Evans, 2009

http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com

“The people spoke” on a woman’s right to vote, a woman’s right to choose, slavery, segregation, miscegenation, Prohibition, and a whole lot of OTHER things about which they were WRONG.

When I was growing up in the Deep South in the 1950s, a “Bible Teacher” paid by the local (protestant) Ministerial Association taught “Bible” IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Jews and Catholics were persecuted UNMERCIFULLY for asking to be excused. Catholic graduates got their diplomas in the office … they weren’t allowed at graduation ceremonies because they couldn’t attend the PROTESTANT baccalaureate service.

Don’t like gay marriage?

DON’T HAVE ONE!

Don’t like abortion?

DON’T HAVE ONE!

Don’t like gay people?

THEN LEAVE ME AND MY FAMILY THE HELL ALONE!

The Founders KNEW the history of ancient Athens and the “tyranny of the majority” … that’s why they inserted the Bill of Rights into the Constitution before the ink was dry.

This is why sodomy should be eliminate, gay legals disbarred, gay nonprofit charters revoked, CA legislator should be one house (Senate) per little Hoover commission, legislators should be parttime as in FL, legislator should meet/vote electronically from their HOME/OFFICE WITHOUT STAFF, a constitutional convention to reorganize the US into a loose confederacy so other states do not have recognize other state gay marriages, and CA should seek closer ties to China/Russia/Islamic nation vs the EU.

I’m happy to oblige you Mr. Irish. You’re a homophobe. And sorry, but I will say this is a civil rights issue. GLBT folk in CA did indeed have the right to marry, both according to the Legislature (twice) and the CASC. It’s called the Equal Protections Clause. That right was taken away in an UN-Constitutional ballot measure (the Constitution cannot be changed by a mere majority vote, but by a 2/3 majority in the Legislature – even the way this happened was UN-Constitutional, evenif you don’t happen to like it).

And if being gay is a lifestyle “choice”, then ipso facto so must being heterosexual. Which, in effect, means that YOU could ‘change’ because you ‘choose’ to be betterosexual.

Sheer and utter nonsense. But what else can we expect from a radical rightwingnutjob.

where can you actually sign this petition?
im a cal resident and would love to sign on.

Prop 8 put a definition into the state constitution. From Merriam-Webster Marriage-1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law. Definition, as in one is not two. Taking the word, then adding “same sex” to it, is a whole different concept, since the definition is specific about “opposite sex”. And no person’s rights are infringed, since they still have the right to get married to someone of the opposite sex. They also still have the right to enter into a civil union, with all of the same responsibilities and privileges as a marriage, except that it can be to someone of the same sex. So it isn’t about “rights”, it’s about order and definitions.

fr niki b:

>…I am part of the 18,000 that got married and now my marriage is in question to the straight religious freaks who call themselves christians…<

You and me (and my WIFE!)both, niki. We got married June 28 2008, only the 39th anniversary of Stonewall (go figure!)and my wife is the best thing that has ever happened to me. When prop HATE went through, she said that “we lost this battle, but we WILL win the war!”

I can’t evevn believe that a persons rights would be an “issue” that the public is allowed to vote on. I am part of the 18,000 that got married and now my marriage is in question to the straight religious freaks who call themselves christians. The definitaion of christian must say to hate all those who are different because every one that I have ever met is afraid of anyone or anything different than what they are or believe. Maybe they should look a little closer at what the word of “GOD” says … “you are all my children and brother and sister alike were all created equally in my image” if this be the case then why not love us too? Doesnt it also say in that book called the bible that we are to judge not less the be judged? I am sorry but true Godly people don’t judge those around them…California the supposed leader in setting examples or the country has made us the laughing stock of the state and it is down right rediculous.Maybe they shouldn’t be thinking so much about what goes on in our bedrooms and focus on the injustice that has been done. As for the children in the attack ads learning about gay/straight marriage in school most children already know the difference by the time they are 7 or 8 anyway and it is not a requirement for the school to teach in California anyway and the parents have to sign permission slips for “sex ed” which puts the responsibility back where it belongs with the parents. This is not democracy it is a dictatorship and idiots are in control.