We won't wait for equality

[IndianaGreen]

We won't wait for equality

July 23, 2009

IF YOU had told me that exactly eight months ago today, November 3, as a result of a ballot initiative reversing equal marriage rights in the state of California, an explosion of LGBT activism would literally roll across this country, I would have said, "I fucking hope so."

Let's take stock of the moment, because sometimes when you're living through one, it's a little bit difficult to read what's happening around you. But in my opinion, I think that what we're going through right now is not merely another stage in the struggle, but the single greatest advance of LGBT civil rights since Stonewall.

People are well aware that 20 years ago, there was another explosion of activism, essentially around the beginnings of--or I should say seven years into--the AIDS crisis. But that movement--which was militant, in your face, massive and all the rest of it--was largely middle class and white in its composition.

Its orientation was very much sunk into the Democratic Party, and it had fiercely held ideas of separatism toward people who weren't gay or lesbian--and, frankly, a lot of funky ideas about bisexuals and transgender people, who weren't often included. In fact, the Lesbian Avengers didn't allow bisexual people onto the buses that were going to the March on Washington in 1993. Transgender people who were female to male were not allowed on the dyke marches early on.

This movement was openly hostile to the organized left. I can remember the first dyke march I attended in New York, down 5th Avenue, in 1990 or '91, I believe. I was actually sucker-punched in the gut on 5th Avenue for selling Socialist Worker. And that was not some sort of aberration. It was one of the most hostile political environments--organizing amid people who we would think would be allies, other lesbians and gays fighting for health care and access to AIDS drugs.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/07/23/we-wont-wait-for-equality

[stray cat]

1. I bet the people taken from Africa on Slaver ships didn't want to wait for equality

slavery didn't occur because people liked it and didn't care enough to demand equality.

[xchrom]

2. we do have numerous internecine feuds in our community.

these are family squabbles that we don't usually like to invite others to

[mitchtv]

3. and I remember being thrown off the dais

by the straight Brown beret crowd at an anti war rally in SF. Gays had/have excellent reason to mistrust strait lefties