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GLN Calendar
Friday, September 10 - Gay Liberation Network live call-in show on CAN TV, 6:30-6:55 PM on Cable Channel 21 in Chicago. You can watch past shows on GLN's new YouTube Channel. Just go to: www.youtube.com/gayliberation
Saturday, September 12 - "Disordered or Just Different? Myth, Science, and Sexuality" with the Gay Liberation Network's Dr. Veronica ("Ronnie") Drantz at 6 PM, Center on Halsted, Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N Halsted Street. What exactly is a Female? Male? Intersexual? Is intersexuality natural? How many sexes are there? Sexual Identity - innate or learned? Sexual Orientation? Sex versus Gender? Religious myth versus science! Cruel and unscientific medical treatment of gay and lesbian people, intersex people, and transsexual people! Fifty years of research on core sexual development from a physiologist’s perspective. Questions and discussion to follow presentation. Free!
Saturday, October 16th -- Hold the date! Midwest Regional Anti-War Action in Chicago!! Details to be announced soon.
After four long years of Democratic rule of both congressional houses and going on two years Democratic control of the White House, LGBT people are angered by the lack of action to end the U.S. government's discrimination against our community.
It is no longer mainly "the big bad Republicans," but a government dominated by the Democratic Party which is:
* Denying us equal employment protections
* Exiling bi-national couples who can't get rights to stay here
* Using bigoted standards to discharge us from the military
* Arguing in court to uphold the "Defense of Marriage Act"
* Continuing Bush's "faith-based" funding of sectarian projects with federal dollars
* Cutting international anti-AIDS funding
* Freezing domestic spending while spreading America's wars and taking military spending to record levels
Our movement's dependence upon and subservience to the Democratic Party has proven to be a dead end. We urgently need to win a wave of pro-LGBT rights legislation, but nearly two years of Democratic rule of two branches of the federal government show that only a truly independent movement can win the sweeping changes we need and demand.
In response to the failure of the Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress to fulfill their many promises, we must inflict pain. That means demonstrations against the main party in power, the Democrats. That means boycotting them and the Republicans in the fall elections.
To those who say that this will only throw the fall elections to the far right, we say that civil rights progress is in no way dependent upon which major party is in power.
Some of the most powerful civil rights progress for women, African Americans and others happened under the far-right Nixon administration, for example. And ironically, it's been Republican-appointed judges from Massachusetts to California who've proven much more likely to support equal marriage rights than Democrats. As ACT-UP in the early 1990s proved against the first President Bush, street activism which genuflects to neither major party is the key means to winning civil rights and saving lives.
The Gay Liberation Network is planning a Chicago action in the second half of September aimed at the politicians that verbally cater to us most, but don’t actually deliver anything.
We've heard enough empty promises from "pro-gay" politicians. If we are going to win our rights, it will be despite the opposition of those who forthrightly oppose us, and despite the foot-dragging and covert opposition of those who claim to support us. Our goal is to convince others in the LGBT community to realize that we have more options – the existing political choices do not meet our needs. We will have to win our rights ourselves, in the streets and outside the voting booth.
We invite others to join us in developing coordinated protests in other cities.
If you would like to plan an action in your city, please contact Gay Liberation Network atLGBTliberation@aol.com or call Andy Thayer at 773-209-1187 or Brent Holman-Gomez at 312-543-7552.
"The Bible says:
Slavery good.
Gays bad.
Snakes talk."
Available in sizes small to triple-X large.
$15 per shirt plus $4.50 flat-rate postage, no matter how many shirts you order.
Make your check payable to "GLN" and mail it to:
GLN BIBLE T-SHIRT OFFER 4404 N Magnolia, Ste 420
Chicago, IL 60640
About 50 people turned out Saturday, Aug. 14 for a protest of the new Target store in Chicago, on Broadway just north of Montrose. They were calling for a boycott of the store because of a recent $150,000 contribution to a fund, Minnesota Forward, that in turn gave that money to right-wing conservative Republican candidate Rep. Tom Emmer in his race for Minnesota governor.
While Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel has apologized to employees for the contribution, and while Target is also meeting with the Human Rights Campaign to mitigate damages, they have not requested the funds back, and Chicago activists are demanding that before they stop boycotting the store.
If Target does get the money back, or even if it does not, activists are calling on the store to give equal or more money to Emmer's Democratic opponent as well as gay organizations and candidates in Minnesota, where the superstore is based.
"We will not be targets" chanted one of the protest's organizers, Rick Heintz, as the group marched in front of the store. Heintz also cut a cake commemorating the victory in the Prop 8 gay marriage case in California. As the Target protest went on in the mid-day sun, dozens of drivers honked their horns in support.
The Chicago protest was initiated by 16-year-old New Trier High School student Zachary Fraum. He came out the week before during the Gay Liberation Network's protest in Arlington Heights against the Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.
"I have known I was gay since I was 10 years old," Fraum said, adding that Rep. Emmert is not just anti-gay, but right-wing on other social issues such as abortion and immigration.
Organizer Andy Thayer of Gay Liberation Network made it clear they were not against the employees of Target, who he said are also victims of an anti-gay CEO who also opposes a unionized workforce. Their CEO "says through his contributions that he hates them, and that has to be a horrible burden" for employees, Thayer said. "To the workers, we say we are on your side."
Transgender activist Dove Paige Anthony asked Target to "stop funding our oppression now!" Anti-war activist Heather Benno from the Answer Coalition connected the dots between those who oppose gay rights and the bigots who get elected and work against gay issues. She said gay rights are the "civil-rights struggle of our generation."
Carrie Maxwell, a former Target employee, said this boycott was a slippery slope, now that the U.S. Supreme Court said corporations can give campaign contributions. "What if Illinois companies like Walgreens and Kraft do this? What are we going to do?" she asked. "So maybe Target, if they can't get the money back, can donate double to gay groups and to the Democratic candidate."
Thayer and GLN's Bob Schwartz said the protesters' demands include Target getting the money back, Target giving that money to a Minnesota gay group, and the Target CEO issuing a "real apology."
Several people at the protest also mentioned that Best Buy is also guilty of similar campaign contributions, and should also be boycotted.
Activist prevails in Pride Parade case
Windy City Times - LINK
News update Friday, Aug. 13, 2010
by Kate Sosin
LGBT activist Andy Thayer prevailed in an Aug. 11 case in which the city of Chicago brought charges against him over an incident at this year's Pride Parade.
Thayer was certain he would lose his case against the City of Chicago. He said so. His lawyer said so. His supporters plotted their appeal before the doors of room 108 even opened for trial.
"The burden of proof is so low for the other side," Thayer told a reporter. "It's such a kangaroo court."
Thayer was cited June 27 during the parade because his organization, the Gay Liberation Network ( GLN ) , refused to move a 14-foot scaffold that blocked anti-gay protesters. Chicago Police Department ( CPD ) officials alleged that GLN had no permit for the scaffold. However, Thayer said that Commander Frank Gross, who heads the CPD special events division, gave GLN permission.
The two sides faced off over a $1,000 fine.
According to both parties, Thayer was ticketed after refusing to remove a scaffold at the corner of Pine Grove and Diversey. The scaffold, which GLN rolled in the parade, was decorated in large signs with political messages. Thayer said that Gross agreed that GLN members could park their parade entry alongside the parade if they wanted to stop. GLN stopped directly in front of anti-gay protesters, partially blocking the protesters from view of spectators. Police told Thayer to remove the scaffold, and he refused.
Representing the city, Scott Sachnoff argued that Thayer's refusal to remove the scaffold led to his charge of "disobeying lawful order of a police officer." Sachnoff told Judge Zipporah J. Lewis that the scaffold was a violation of parade permits because the GLN contingent had been registered with the pride committee as a truck.
Thayer's attorney, Jeffrey Frank, called the charges "unwarranted" and "arbitrary." According to the citation, Frank said, Thayer had been issued a traffic ticket. Frank also alleged that police "spent an hour trying to figure out what to charge Thayer with" and that they had decided that Thayer "once again needed to be taught a lesson." Frank asked CPD Deputy Chief Bruce Rottner, who ordered ticket, if all gay pride floats could be ticketed for breaking traffic laws. Rottner said he was not sure.
Officer Christine Alessi, who wrote the ticket, told the court that "the concern was about the safety of the scaffolding, not about Mr. Thayer and his right to protest." Alessi and Rottner testified that no one from the city had inspected the rolling scaffold and that they feared it was unstable.
Rottner claimed that he phoned Gross during the parade to ask if Gross had given permission to Thayer to put a scaffold at Diversey and Pine Grove. But Gross said that Rottner left him a voicemail, explaining that Thayer had "erected" a "20-foot scaffold." He added that Rottner told him that Thayer "used your name, and we had to give Andy a citation."
According to Gross, Thayer was not given permission to build a scaffold. He said that parade organizers worried that GLN would stop mid-parade to protest as they allegedly did in 2009. Gross said that he was asked to speak with Thayer proactively.
"I said that I would be happy to call Andy and ask him not to do that again," testified Gross, who has negotiated permits with Thayer in the past. "I asked Andy to agree to not block the parade and pull over to the side."
Frank argued that Thayer made good on that promise. But Sachnoff said the case had nothing to do with the parade. "It's about lawful order of police order," he told the court.
After more than two hours off cross-examination, Lewis ruled in favor of Thayer. She said the city did not make clear why Thayer was being charged with traffic violations.
Thayer expressed surprise over the decision. "To his credit, Commander Gross told the truth," Thayer told reporters. Thayer called the ordeal a miscommunication between Gross, Rottner and reporting officers. "They didn't have the maturity to say 'We screwed up.'"
Pictures, Stories and Videos of Protest Against "Americans For Truth About Homosexuality"
An article about the protest, Protesters Picket Anti-Gay Academy in Arlington Heights by Kate Slosin of Windy City Times, can be found HERE.
Protesters surround anti-gay bigot Peter LaBarbera of "Americans For Truth About Homosexuality"
Former Christian Liberty Academy student
Amanda speaks out against AFTAH's anti-gay hate
"This school terrified me. I think every time I came to this school I had an anxiety attack. I was so terrified to be myself... I remember sitting in my philosophy class and they were discussing about why people get married and why they get divorced, and I remember my philosophy teacher telling us that 'If you are in a marriage and your husband is beating you, it's not Biblically right for you to divorce him... It took me years to be okay with who I am. And part of the reason was because of the hate that they teach. I would just hate to see any other child walk through these doors to feel the same way that I do. It was just amazing how much hate was coming from them. I truly believe that as a Christian bisexual woman, that God doesn't preach to us. He just hung out with hookers and thieves. What makes you think he wouldn't hang out with a Lesbian or Gay man?"
Anti-Gay Truth Academy Finally Kicks Off In Chicago;
Gay Liberation Network Declares War
by Derrick Mathis
RENWL: Restore Equality Now~West Adams/LA South Marriage Equality And Community Activists
August 5, 2010 - LINK
Gay Liberation Network Protest at Christian Liberty Academy
Protesters picket anti-gay academy in Arlington Heights
by Kate Sosin
Windy City Times
August 6, 2010 LINK
The AFTAH Anti-Gay-Rights Academy: A Protester's Perspective
Gay Liberation Network Protests AFTAH at Christian Liberty Academy, Co-Founder Andy Thayer Calls Arlington Heights 'Not Exactly the Most Liberty-Minded Town'
This year's Chicago Pride Parade gave the Gay Liberation Network an opportunity to not only send a civil rights message to the hundreds of thousands in attendance, but to send a civil rights message with an edge.
For today's civil rights activists it isn't enough to simply articulate the rights we want. We must also look frankly at the state of our movement and ask, "What is holding us back?"
Sure, we have enemies -- there's the right wing, and the anti-gay opposition is well-funded and strongly supported by many religious leaders. But what is it about our own movement that is making us less effective than we could be?
Based upon our recent record, there should be plenty of problems to find, if we're being honest. In 1978, the movement personified by Harvey Milk was in many ways much weaker, lacking funds and political connections, and yet it successfully defeated the anti-gay Briggs Amendment ballot initiative in California.
Today, gay rights in the U.S. looks like the Chicago Cubs of social movements, losing dozens of ballot initiatives in a row, never analyzing why, and always saying "wait 'til next year" while President Obama and the Democratic Party keep putting off implementation of the many promises they made to us in 2008.
But it is not enough to bemoan the failures and weaknesses of our movement. We need to analyze how we can improve.
At the end of the Parade on Diversey Avenue, we protested, as we have done in several previous years, against a viciously anti-gay organization called the "Street Preachers." But shortly after we arrived there, Chicago police officers on the scene insisted that we leave.
This was in direct contravention of an agreement that GLN had reached two days previously with Commander Frank Gross, head of the Special Events Division of the Chicago Police, and that had been made at his request.
While GLN kept to its side of the bargain, Gross apparently did not communicate the agreement to his own subordinates. So now GLN member Andy Thayer is facing a potential $1000 fine for failure to obey a "lawful [sic] order or direction of a police officer." The court date is on Monday, August 2nd at 1:30 PM at 400 W. Superior Street, Room 101.
Click HERE to see more pictures and to check out the text of the flyer we handed out at Pride; it identifies what we see as the fundamental weakness of our movement -- reliance on others to secure our rights -- and states the direction we must move if we are to win.
Arab-Israeli Tensions Spill Over to Pride Celebrations
by Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE Contributor - LINK
Monday Jun 28, 2010
Horrific conditions in the densely populated Gaza Strip has been a source of international condemnation.
Pride season means many different things to many different people within the LGBT community, but one theme - that of unification and temporarily putting aside the various disagreements that fuel community infighting - is an undeniable Pride pillar oh which many queer people lean.
But Pride season can also exacerbate existing tensions within the community, particularly in response to major world events. The May 31 Israeli attack of a Turkish humanitarian aid flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip - an attack that resulted in the deaths of nine, the injuries of dozens and the detainment of hundreds - has proven to be one of those events.
As media, governments and protesters worldwide largely condemned Israel’s attack on seemingly innocent civilians, tension boiled over into Pride celebrations worldwide. Pride organizers’ actions raise serious questions over the role of censorship in queer-centric spaces.
LGBT outcry over attack In Madrid, an Israeli singer’s concert was canceled and an Israel delegation was banned from participating in that city’s Pride Parade, scheduled for late June, due to reported security concerns over their presence. In an interview with the Guardian, Antonio Poveda, president of Spain’s Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals and Bisexuals, said: "After what has happened, and as human rights campaigners, it seemed barbaric to us to have them taking part."
And in Toronto, tempers flared palpably as a pro-Palestinian group called Queers United Against Israeli Apartheid was originally barred from marching in their city’s parade, set for July 4, after the city threatened to pull its funding of the event. Over 20 honored by the Toronto Pride organization returned their honors in protest and the decision has since been reversed, as reported by EDGE: Queers United Against Israeli Apartheid will march in the parade, despite criticism from some pro-Israel LGBT advocates.
Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, is among those angered by Pride Toronto’s reversal. "We feel that Pride Toronto is no longer a representative of gay rights, but has now been unfortunately hijacked and has become a vehicle for anti-Israel bashing and agitation," Benlolo told the Toronto Star.
The controversy understandably has American LGBT advocates on both side of the contentious and centuries-old Israel-Palestine issue seeing red during our rainbow-intensive season.
Can the Palestinian struggle be separated from gay rights? LGBT activists who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian population paint a different picture of Israel. For them, the many pro-Israel advocates in the gay community see on the state’s progressiveness on LGBT issues as "pinkwashing." San Francisco-based Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, an organization similar to the group originally banned in Toronto, considers themselves part of "an international movement for human rights that encompasses the movement for Palestinian liberation, and all other liberation movements."
Andy Thayer, the Chicago-based founder of the Gay Liberation Network, who’s recently traveled to Russia to protest government oppression of Pride celebrations there, is among those activists who aligns himself in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian movement.
"We’ve heard the repeated chant over and over that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and yet there’s a whole section of the population who are segregated from the rest of society," Thayer told EDGE. "It’s completely outrageous that Gazans are living as virtual prisoners on their own land, 80 percent of them living off less than two dollars a day."
Thayer considers many present-day American LGBT organizers as remiss in what he describes as a failure to speak out against governments that actively oppress any given class of people, including our own. He describes many organizers’ single-issue, U.S.-only focuses as ahistorical, ignoring lessons from earlier organizers like Harvey Milk who reached out to labor and immigrant communities for mutual support.
"If we as LGBT people are going to ask for solidarity for our struggles, whether it be here in the U.S. or abroad, we cannot remain oblivious to the struggles of others," Thayer continued. "If we are going to maintain any sort of internal cohesion to our movement, we will need to take up these ’other’ struggles."
The battle of Arizona has made its way to Naperville.
About 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the Naperville Municipal Center, some rallying in support of Arizona's new immigration law, some to counterprotest, and others to keep some semblance of peace.
The Stand With Arizona rally was organized by members of the Naperville Tea Party Patriots and featured speakers from that group, the Illinois Minutemen Project, an anti-immigrant group based in Skokie, and the Illinois Sons of Liberty, which rolled into downtown Naperville on motorcycles decked in American and Gadsden flags.
Across a barrier erected by Naperville police, counter-protesters from a handful of Chicago groups led by Immigrant Solidarity DuPage shouted chants like "Power to the people, no one is illegal," partially drowning out the rally's reading of Arizona's Senate bill 1070, the bill at the heart of the controversy.
The new Arizona state law, which is set to go into effect this August, would require local law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration law, including asking for proof of citizenship for those suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, which detractors, both at Saturday's rally and across the country, say could only result in racial profiling.
"They don't want to build a wall around Canada," said Ryne Poelker, a Chicago resident taking part in the counter-protest. "How can you suspect people are immigrants without looking at their skin color?"
But across the barrier, speakers said race wasn't the issue.
"They're trying to tell us this law has everything to with racial profiling," said Rick Biesada of the Illinois Minutemen Project. "It doesn't." Biesada's speech opened with a list of figures, the cost to the U.S. and to Illinois of illegal immigration.
"Today they may be going after the immigrants, tomorrow it's gays, next, who knows?" said Andy Thayer, member of the Gay Liberation Network Chicago. "We have to stand together against hate."
"It's going extremely well," said Adam Shils, organizer with Immigrant Solidarity DuPage. "We have a legal, peaceful demonstration, and we have a strong showing of opposition to the Minutemen and others who are blaming our immigrant brothers and sisters for our nation's problems."
Peaceful being a relative term.
Joe Alger, of the Illinois Sons of Liberty, called for the counter-protesters to join in on a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. "I'll help you with the words," he said, eliciting louder chants to drown out the Tea Party's PA system.
The din of the crowds began attracting people downtown for other reasons. Members of Naperville's Special Response Team watched from the roof of the municipal center as protesters on both sides of the barrier exchanged less than friendly words, with accusations of racism and being unpatriotic flying back and forth.
The Stand With Arizona Rally was to conclude with a march to Coldstone Creamery, an Arizona-based business, but was cut an hour short because of impending bad weather.
Gay rights activists stage 'kiss-in'
Demonstration comes after couple allege discrimination at Alsip restaurant
By Lolly Bowean and Carmen Greco Jr., Chicago Tribune - LINK 9:29 p.m. CDT, June 4, 2010
About 100 gay rights activists puckered up to prove a point at a south suburban restaurant Friday night.
"It's to educate people that homophobia of any kind is unacceptable," said Frank Nielsen, who organized the "kiss-in" demonstration after being asked by the restaurant's owner last month to stop kissing boyfriend Danny Hankes.
Frank Nielsen (center left) and Danny Hankes hold a "kiss-in" at an Alsip restaurant Friday. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James)
"My boyfriend and me are like anyone else," said Nielsen, 22. "I have straight allies and gay allies with me here tonight."
The protestors, men and women, straight and gay, were greeted calmly by both clientele and the owner of La Fiesta Azteca in Alsip, where at least four police cars idled outside. Once inside, the group clinked water glasses, kissed and applauded.
"They have their opinion, and I have mine," said restaurant owner Jaime Esparza. "I don't feel like I did anything wrong when I told them to leave."
Nielsen and Hankes said they kissed while having dinner at the restaurant in the 12600 block of South Pulaski Road on May 7, then were approached by the owner and told to stop.
"We kissed a few times on the lips, but it was not vulgar," said Hankes, 19, who lives in Lemont.
After being reprimanded, the couple decided to leave, Hankes said. But the owner blocked their path until they paid for their appetizers and drinks.
"The manager puffed out his chest and said, 'You're going to pay,'" Hankes said. "Frankie threw a $20 bill on the table, and we stormed out."
Esparza said he was never hostile and didn't refuse to serve the couple. He said he would ask any couple to respect his restaurant and leave the kissing outside.
"They are saying I kicked them out, but I didn't," he said. "I asked them, really polite, I said, 'I know you guys are in love, and you're young. It's OK. But don't do it here.'
"I said, 'You don't have to get upset. Enjoy your food, your drink also, but behave until you're done. Respect this place.'"
Esparza said the couple came into the restaurant holding hands and exchanging kisses. At one point, they were kissing each other on the neck and other customers began to look uncomfortable. He said he insisted they pay for their food because they ate some of it.
"I said, 'You're going because you want to. I didn't tell you to leave, I told you to behave,'" he said. "If I would be discriminating, I would say you guys are not allowed as soon as they walk in."
After the confrontation, Nielsen said he called the restaurant and asked for an apology and a refund, but Esparza refused.
Nielsen and Hankes said they told their story to friends and supporters at local gay clubs, coffee shops and on Facebook. When they connected with the Gay Liberation Network, they decided to organize Friday's protest.
"We have a law that guarantees gay people equal access to accommodations," said Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network. "The fact is, proprietors have no problem with differently sexed couples embracing or kissing in a nonsexual manner. Yet when Frankie and Danny did it, the manager stormed up to them and made a scene."
By protesting, the couple said they hope to expose discrimination in the conservative south suburb.
"I hope the establishment realizes we have a large community that won't be silenced," Nielsen said.
Lolly Bowean is a Tribune reporter; Carmen Greco Jr. is a freelance reporter.
7:30 PM, Thursday, August 5th In front of "Christian Liberty Academy"
502 W. Euclid Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL A short walk from the Arlington Heights Metra stop.
Info: LGBTliberation@aol.com
So many things about AFTAH's forthcoming anti-gay "academy" are offensive on their face that it's easy to lose sight of the broader, strategic reasons for organizing public protests against organizations like AFTAH.
Many rightly have a visceral reaction against organizations that try to turn back the clock to a time in American history when it was openly acceptable to scapegoat minorities who had already endured plenty of hate and discrimination, thank you very much.
Organizations like AFTAH that target young people for indoctrination with bigotry – their anti-gay "academy" says that it's for people as young as 14-years-old - recall historical pictures of adult white supremacists bringing their children to rallies against African Americans, Jews and "communists."
Organizations that peddle their paranoia about "the Other" in times of economic distress, like today's "Great Recession," recall earlier times in history when such scapegoating had devastating effects on the lives and opportunities of those targeted.
Important as these reasons are for protesting AFTAH, our own LGBT civil rights struggle shows that there are civil rights opportunities to be gained by not taking an "ignore them and they'll go away approach" towards groups like AFTAH.
Reading through AFTAH's propaganda materials, one is struck by the great lengths they go to portray themselves as simple, "good Christians" (albeit far better than those lapsed, "fake" Christians). Besides wrapping themselves in Biblical goodliness, they're hyper-patriots, boisterously proclaiming their Americanism. And diabetics beware - their sanctimonious tracts about what they call family values contain so much sugar they are hazardous to your health. They're just about as Godly, Pro-American and Pro-Family as you can get.
Why so much emphasis on God, patriotism, Mom and apple pie? Because the real product they're selling is one that, when Americans think about it more deeply, is something many will find repugnant. This is where marketing comes in.
AFTAH is in favor of denying equal access to employment, housing and public accommodations - including government services like equal Social Security and marriage benefits - to a whole group of people. AFTAH's central mission is to prevent the spread of full LGBT legal and social equality and to roll back those gains that we have already made. In order to accomplish these goals, they must expand further the territory they've already secured for "acceptable" anti-gay bigotry in mainstream politics and among the wider public.
Their problem is that, while the 1960s Civil Rights Movement for African Americans certainly wasn't popular in many quarters at the time, it did win at least surface acceptance over time. And part of its legacy was that it eventually established in the United States a popular repugnance among many against those who overtly oppose legal equality for African Americans and indeed against anyone who peddles hate and discrimination against whole groups of people.
Like present-day anti-gay bigots, in the 1960s opponents of the movement for African American civil rights also boisterously wrapped themselves in faith, family and country. And it is no accident that many prominent anti-gay leaders of this century, such as the Mormon Church and the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, were strident opponents of African American legal equality in the last century. Falwell, for example, infamously labeled the Black freedom movement "the civil wrongs movement."
So as anti-gay groups like AFTAH promote themselves as godly, patriotic, and pro-family, this is not just stylistic exuberance. Rather, it is part of a carefully thought out strategy aimed at countering those who label them as haters. And when mainstream LGBT leaders advise our community to ignore groups like AFTAH or go lightly on them, they are playing right into their hands.
By contrast, in the late 1970s when the pro-gay movement which brought us Harvey Milk defeated the anti-gay movement represented by Anita Bryant, they did it by successfully labeling Bryant as a narrow-minded bigot very reminiscent of the bigots which the African American Civil Rights Movement organized against. All the "pro-family" and "Save Our Children" saccharine in the world could not protect her from a pro-gay movement which peeled away the patriotic and "Christian" façade to reveal a nasty bigot underneath.
For the most part, our present-day mainstream LGBT leaders repeatedly fail to take on the present-day Anita Bryants. Instead, while AFTAH and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spew out vitriol suggesting that we are a bunch of disease-ridden child molesters, pro-gay leaders typically pull their punches and prefer to shy away from labeling creeps in AFTAH and NOM as the anti-gay bigots that they are. The result, in contrast to our 1978 victory over California's anti-gay Briggs Amendment, is our defeat in many eminently winnable anti-gay referenda fights over the past few years, including in places like Maine where we held a 2-to-1 fundraising advantage.
Rather than paint the Catholic and Mormon Church leaderships as bigots opposed to equal rights and painting them into a corner the way that Harvey Milk, et al, did against Anita Bryant, most LGBT leaders give anti-gay leaders like the Pope a pass; instead, they try to compete on the same terrain by setting up "faith-based" divisions at organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and out-doing the bigots in demonstrating our "godliness" and "pro-family values" (whether we're Christian or not, or whether we consider ourselves part of families or not).
With dozens of defeats in recent statewide referenda, this is a spectacularly failed strategy.
The question is why do mainstream LGBT groups and their leaders obsessively persist in this failed strategy? Part of the answer lies in their fear of taking on still-powerful religious hierarchies like the leaderships of the Mormon and Catholic Churches - the latter still very dominant in American life despite the repeated pedophilia scandals and the gradual growth of agnosticism and atheism among the public.
But this alone does not explain LGBT leaders' hesitancy to take on religious anti-gay leaders. After all, until California's anti-gay Briggs Amendment, Anita Bryant also appeared to be hugely powerful, a seemingly unstoppable force in the late 1970s, rapidly over-turning pro-gay legislation in city after city while a seemingly friendless gay community gathered virtually no support from established institutions in American society. Yet our young gay movement took her on and was successful.
The core of our present-day problem lies in our movement's reliance on leaders who themselves have intimate ties to the Democratic Party and explicitly or implicitly take their marching orders from it. And the fact remains that most significant leaders in the Democratic Party oppose marriage equality and other aspects of full citizenship for LGBT people.
Part of the reason mainstream LGBT leaders fail to more actively take on anti-gay religious leaders is that for them to do so, while failing to also take on their anti-equality politician-allies, would make them look like hypocrites. So in the face of anti-gay leaders' vitriol and slander, these mainstream gay leaders in groups like HRC and the Stonewall Democrats take the easy way out. Rather than earning respect by taking the battle to our enemies by labeling their opposition to LGBT equality to be plain and simple bigotry, they earn people's contempt by pathetically pleading for "fairness" and "tolerance."
So as important as it is to oppose AFTAH's nasty attempt to indoctrinate the next generation with anti-LGBT hate, our protest on Thursday night is about much more than that, too. It is also about breaking from the failed strategy which gave us the California Prop 8 and Maine Question 1 defeats. It's about rejecting a "kids-glove" treatment towards anti-gay leaders who, like AFTAH's Peter LaBarbera, relentlessly push anti-equality legislation and constitutional amendments when given half a chance.
"Formed in response to three September '98 anti-gay bashings in the "Boy's Town" neighborhood... [we] respond to all serious hate crimes, no matter which scapegoated group is targeted. We will actively seek out and work with individuals and organizations in other communities to assist them in responding to hate crimes that target them. Only by the active involvement of grass roots people from all communities can we isolate the bigots and thus lessen hate crimes."
-- from the GLN/CABN founding statement
Gay Liberation Network
(formerly Chicago Anti-Bashing Network)
a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Direct Action Group
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