Gay community reportedly “split” on how to press for equality

LGBT, NewsBites — By Speak Equal on March 18, 2010 at 6:44 pm

Everyone’s talking about the Human Rights Campaign rally-turned-protest, which culminated in a march to the White House and Lt. Dan Choi, along with former Army Infantryman Jim Pietrangelo, chaining themselves to the White House fence.

However, in the midst of the dialog pertaining to these exciting (and welcome) examples of civil disobedience, I’d like to point out a quote from a CBS news article:

“According to reports, Choi crashed the rally, hosted by the gay rights group the Human Rights Campaign and comedian Kathy Griffin, and asked attendees to join him in a march to the White House, turning the event into more of a protest.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese did not march to the White House, in an illustration of the split in the gay rights movement between establishment organizations like the HRC, which generally support the Obama administration, and activists like Choi, who are pushing more aggressively for action.

Whether you believe Lt. Choi was “out of place,” for reportedly “crashing” a rally and issuing a call to action for a march/protest; or rather you believe Mr. Joe Solmonese is wrong for not standing in solidarity with his grassroots constituents and choosing instead to support the political process (no matter how slow it may be) — the fact still remains, the media is portraying our community as unorganized, confused, and fragmented.

And that’s not okay.

The bottom line is this:

If we don’t get unified, organized, and motivated (quick check in on all my LGBT brothers and sisters with that I-don’t-have-to-do-anything-it’ll-happen attitude); we will continue to allow ourselves to be used as a political scapegoat and a social mockery.

If we’re looking for proof of this: go ask the feminists, go ask the immigrants, go ask the black civil rights fighters …