Gay-rights groups take cue from Christian right of 1980s

[Khephra]

Gay-rights groups take cue from Christian right of 1980s

By RICK MONTGOMERY

The Kansas City Star


A painful political season over, gay-rights groups are reassessing what it takes to win hearts and minds in Middle America.

Instead of fighting high-profile wars in courtrooms and capitols, many are looking to wage gentler campaigns in church basements, town halls, front porches and local boardrooms, borrowing from the successful tactics of the Christian right in the 1980s.

The Nov. 2 elections showed that in the Midwest, the bold legal strategies of Massachusetts and San Francisco simply do not fly — in fact, they inflame. Across the rolling landscape of central states, such tactics made straight voters fearful and many gay and lesbian residents uneasy.

“Not understanding that all politics is local, the national advocacy groups learned a huge lesson,” said Jamie Rich, former director of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Greater Kansas City.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/10273390.htm

[BamaLefty]

1. Sad...

I am a very strong Christian, but I believe that God didn't mean for anybody to be second class citizens.

I also think he would believe that this discrimination against people who may share different beliefs than the majority is sad.

[Erika]

2. My gay stepson and his partner are very civic minded

in Texas, no less. One works full time for a recognized charity and is thought of highly for his committment to his work. Their gay organization takes on many community causes each year and are recognized for their activities.

It's the rural folks who have nothing but the Bible to judge them on that is the problem.

[Kimber Scott]

3. Politics. You have to know how to play the game. Who knew? (nt)

[Ima]

4. Some times

you have to win a battle one person at a time.

[Kimber Scott]

6. Exactly and you can't go around whacking bee hives at the same time.

I say "who knew" in all earnestness. Who knew how the gay thing would make the reds see red? It was so far off my radar screen, I never saw it coming, but somebody should have. Somebody did, but that pesky old ideological purism got in the way - again.

I think about all the right-to-lifers and the anti-gayers and I get perplexed at how that seems to be so much more important than immoral wars and lying presidents, but we stood on the same issues - alongside the immoral wars and lying presidents - but still, we stood there. How did everything get so lopsided? Oh, I forgot, Karl Rove.

[Erika]

7. Rove is an evil genius

He saw to it that the gay issue was put on the ballot in swing states by giving GOP $ and support to these radical anti-gay groups. Then he got them out to vote.

Even being from a red state, I know few people who think sexual orientation is that big of thing. Rove made it that big of a thing to hard core Bible thumpers.

[Ima]

8. I doubt any

of that Rosie O'Donnell in your face stuff helped.She isn't that popular as it is.

Think of the black fight for equal rights. They took one step at a time. If they would have started out telling the whites: I want to live in your neighborhood, have equal rights to your jobs, education, being on TV, vote, be in politics, marry into your family etc, how far would they have got? They took things one issue at a time. People found out they wouldn't melt, if the blacks didn't ride in the back of the bus. They found out their lunch tasted the same with a black person sitting next to them.


I believe most people have no problem with gays. The rich and powerful try to promote problems. Keep us busy fighting among each other.

[davidinalameda]

5. its not the legal strategies that inflame

but those who are opposed to us gaining full rights

I doubt most people would care one way or another if it wasn't for the right wingers fanning the flames of hate

[Spangle]

9. Boggie Man

That is the real reason.

They need a boggie man to fight. They more different Boggie Men to fight, the more likely your going to find a boggie man that a person is willing to fight against.

[George_S]

10. Agreed

But the language and how it's framed matters. They won the spin war is all.