Tearing Down The Argument

I need you all to take a few minutes or so and go read this piece over at Bilerico. I love Bilerico, and this piece is a fine example of why I love the site. Poster Josh Olsen tears apart the most common rhetoric from the conservative, mostly Christian Right concering marriage equality. Among the choicest quotes is this gem in regard to the claim that Californian's right to vote has been stripped from them by Judge Walker over turning Proposition 8:

The voters of Californians have had no rights stripped from them whatsoever. Our right to vote (did I mention that I live in California?) remains inviolate. In fact, not only has my right to vote not been touched, I still have the right to vote on laws that are not constitutional, such as, say, Proposition 8.

Bishop Jackson would have you believe that all that's necessary for something to become law is that the people vote for it. That we have a Constitution that our laws must measure up to is something he'd like you to forget, as is the fact that the Constitution is designed specifically to protect minorities from the unthinking bigotry of the majority.

If the voters of California voted to re-institute slavery, would Bishop Jackson object if a federal judge (especially an African-American one) struck it down? We still have the right to vote. What we have never had is the right to vote in laws that violate the United States Constitution.

The article is a bit long but worth every moment of reading. What we all need to understand is that the Right's insistence that marriage equality is evil is just plain stupid. No need to flower it up, the bigoted view that same-sex couples do not deserve equality is based in nothing short of hate and ignorance.

Why We Can't "Let Her Slide"

I love the Bilerico Project. It's one of my favorite blogs to read, if only because they go out of their way to provide different perspective on issues within the LGBT community. The reason I love reading these various opinions is because they often make me question my own opinion or belief, which leads to me either change my opinion or firm up my previously held belief. Sometimes though, the pieces I read on Bilerico just infuriate me, as was the case with a piece I read on the way to work this morning (which, oddly I can't find anymore... wonder what happened to it...).

The author's premise is that the spectacle caused by Miss California's ignorant comments and the subsequent media rush around her and equally ignorant Perez Hilton is absolutely useless to the marriage equality movement. Furthermore, Miss California should be essentially let off the hook for her comments because she'd just too stupid to know better. I have several big problems with this concept.

First, let's examine the non-gay layer of this cake. The author presumes that because the girl is a Beauty Contestant, she must obviously be ignorant. Because pretty girls can't be smart, and women that would dare subject themselves to the rigors of a Miss America contest are even lower on the intelligence scale. While one might have understandable and justifiable objections to the ideal of a female Beauty Pageant, assuming that all that enter that contest are ignorant is mildly sexist and highly elitist. Am I saying that you should accept those people with open arms? No, because I think it's reasonable to say that you would choose to not associate with them. But to instantaneously dismiss them and put them down for being "dumb, pretty girls" is just as asinine as saying you don't believe in Equality because it's "just the way you were raised."

Second, dismissing Miss California's comments because she's just not smart enough to understand what she's saying is antithetical to fighting for hearts and minds. Fred Phelp's isn't going to change, but if you let his message go unchallenged, you are in essence validating it. I would not suggest you treat an out-right Bigot the same as a lazy, casual hater (what I would qualify Miss California as), but in either case if you let that message stand on it's own, you are validating it in the eyes of the masses. For some unforeseen reason, there are people that will look up to her and take her thoughts and opinion as their own, particularly if someone doesn’t stand up and say that those thoughts are wrong. If we are going to give her a by pass, we may as well forget about talking about school bullying as those kids are obviously not smart enough to know the difference either, right?

Finally, I cannot accept that exposing the issue to the public and putting in front of people is a bad idea, even if it's in the form of one prima donna spitting at another. Sure, it's then reduced to mindless quips, however this debate on Marriage Equality has been reduced to that by mainstream media in ever instance anyway. Shooting down Perez for standing up for our rights in such a public manner, regardless of his words, only serves to fuel to fire of the anti-gay torch bearers. Apologizing for his behavior only equates to apologizing for our outrage and anger, and I will be last person you will ever see apologizing for being pissed that I STILL do not have equal rights in the country.

So no, I don't think we should "let her slide" or move on to a "more intelligent" debate. Here is today's battlefield, and I say we stand and fight.

Get With It

One of my biggest complaints about the Gay Rights Movement in the past few years is that it's been quiet and complacent.  We've been all too happy to accept the small, ultimately meaningless, gains in exchange for our peaceful subservience to the Christian-Conservative Overlords that have been running our country.  As a result, nothing of substance has happened, and even more so, some of the rights that we have fought in the "politically correct" arena have been stripped from us. 

It's not just the "corporate" mind set of our National Organizations that is the problem though.  GLAAD and HRC exist for very specific things, and it's my belief that they should continue to do what they do best, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that they are not good at leading our community as a whole to action.  As Michael Crawford over at Bilerco Project put it:

While there are many smart and politically savvy people in positions of leadership in our organizations, I do wonder how much of gay conventional wisdom is shaped by psychic damage caused by the intrinsic evil of the closet and internalized homophobia.

That is not to say that our leaders are closet cases, but how much of the timidness and unwillingness to speak openly and forcefully about our lives and our families is the result of old-school political battles necessitating a less overtly "gay" style of activism?

We have been too scared to act up for too long.  It's time to be activists.  It's time to let people know why they can't take away our rights.  It's time we stop acting like scared, closeted high school students afraid of the Jocks finding out for fear of beating and start acting like the proud, successful, happy queers we are!