For all my talk, I’m embarrassingly deficient when it comes to true activism. I try to do my best to take part in grassroots activism for causes in which I fully believe – I worked many hours and took a lot of shit from Hillary supporters when I campaigned for Obama – but, by nature, I’m generally a fairly passive person. I guess that’s why I’m a blogger. My strength is with the written word, not screaming in the streets or even going door-to-door for that matter. So the idea of going to a march on Washington was a bit off-setting to me at first.
And, besides, I was skeptical from the beginning about the National Equality March proposed by longtime LGBT activist Cleve Jones. I listened to arguments made by organizations like HRC, which claimed that the push toward a national LGBT agenda might take away somehow from the traditional state-by-state strategy that seemed to be picking up momentum. And yet, I understood the need to take advantage of this window of opportunity (a scenario that mirrors that of the 1960s when Democrats held controlled the legislative and executive branches and passed landmark civil rights legislation) and pursue a national agenda for LGBT rights. I was on the fence. When it came right down to it, I guess I supported the march. But one thing seemed clear – I would not be in attendance.
My reasons for boycotting the National Equality March were many. Money doesn’t exactly grow on a tree in my backyard. I hate crowds. I’m single at the moment, so I have nobody to go with. I don’t want to deal with Washington traffic. I don’t have any shirts that are gay enough to wear. The list went on and on, and got even more ridiculous. If you get to the root of my problem, though, you’ll find that I just didn’t want to be bothered. It’s not that I didn’t care. It’s just that I didn’t want to get off of my lazy ass. I’d rather sit around and blog – that’s easy. I believe in LGBT equality. Nobody believes in LGBT equality more than I do. I’m gay. Of course I support my civil rights. So why did I have to go to a march to prove that? Why take a firm, tangible stand when it’s so much more convenient to give rhetorical support without getting dirty? Hey – I could blog about the march without going!
Then I realized that I reminded myself of somebody. For all our differences, I was starting to think a lot like President Obama. He, too, believes in LGBT equality (except for that whole marriage thing). He, too, is pretty good at talking the talk. When it comes to action, though – and I mean real action – Obama sucks. From defending DOMA to refusing to halt DADT investigations and discharges to not taking the lead and being the “fierce advocate” that he promised to be, Obama just doesn’t make the grade. And, in a way, I was worse than Obama. As a gay man, I was refusing to march – not because of real obstacles, but because of a passive attitude that made me want to do the convenient thing (read about it on the CNN website and maybe write a nice little blog about it).
And I finally realized that I had a duty as a gay American to march in solidarity with my LGBT brothers and sisters and be heard. There’s just too much to fight for to sit around and do nothing while a minority of the LGBT community bears the brunt of the effort. We’ve come a long way as a movement. We haven’t come far enough. People are still scared to death to come out of the closet. It’s hell for many gay and lesbian Americans. For those who choose to come out, they can expect to be treated as second-class citizens. Take it from a gay guy – it’s ugly out here in the real world. For months and even years, I’d viewed coming out as a singular event, after which my life would consist of peaches and cream. But I’m still coming out. It’s a process, and a long, tiring one at that. And coming out hasn’t made me more equal. It hasn’t increased my social status. I still have limited rights. I still can’t get married in my state of Pennsylvania, I’m still not shielded from losing my job due to my sexual orientation, I’m still not protected by hate crimes law, and I still face an uphill battle for my basic human and civil rights against a strong-willed, determined group of religious fanatics. America is becoming more tolerant, but frankly, that’s not enough. “More tolerant” doesn’t give me civil rights. “More tolerant” doesn’t make it so people aren’t afraid to come out. And I’m not interested in waiting for “more tolerant” to turn into “tolerant.”
That’s why I’m going to the National Equality March on October 10 and 11. I’m passionate about my rights and the rights of all LGBT people. If you’re as passionate as I am, gay or straight, I urge you to march, too. Only if we band together and speak in one loud voice will the politicians listen and make us full citizens. If you don’t make the effort to be counted, who will speak for you? Don’t leave it up to activists – become an activist yourself.
I’ll see you at the March.
The blogger, Kristofer Paul, can be reached at bottomleftpolitics@yahoo.com.
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