Just over a year ago, I wrote a piece for an LGBT publication entitled Is Civil Discourse Dead? Given the events that transpired in Arizona, the whole country is beginning to ask the same question. While it is interesting to look at the issue from a national perspective, I think it is important for the LGBT community to take a look at how it speaks about and to itself.
Politics is a nasty business. Therefore, by definition the pursuit of LGBT equality is also a nasty business. It is when events like the Arizona massacre happen that we begin to understand that our words can lead to unintended actions by others. Simply, words matter.
In the LGBT community, it is shameful how we tear each other apart in the press. While some will say that I am doing the same by printing this piece, I will respectfully disagree. I was reading a lengthy article in LA Weekly that was entitled Mission Drift at Gay, Inc. Before I read the first paragraph I knew that the tenor of the piece would be an attack on the larger, more established organizations fighting for LGBT equality. I also expected that the main people who would make the criticisms about “Gay, Inc.” would be other leaders from the LGBT community. The LA Weekly piece was primarily focused upon Equality California’s Geoff Kors and the Human Rights Campaign.
First, “Gay, Inc.” is a pejorative that has been used by those who want to undermine and criticize the best funded organizations within the LGBT community. In the article “Gay, Inc.” is defined as “a handful of gay rights groups that operate as self-focused money machines.” Primarily, the term is used to refer to the Human Rights Campaign, Equality California, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Gay Lesbian Alliance against Defamation. Of course, like any expletive, it can be hurled at any organization at any moment in time.
What was striking was the venue for the “hit” piece. The publication describes itself this way “Since 1978, LA Weekly has been decoding Los Angeles for its readers, infiltrating its subcultures, observing and analyzing its shifting rhythms, digging up its unreported stories and confronting the city’s political leaders.” Clearly, not an LGBT focused publication.
So, why do LGBT people find it necessary to air the dirty laundry of the LGBT equality movement in mainstream publications? What is the motivation of Robin McGehee, Michael Petrelis, Cleve Jones, Sheila Kuehl and others? If each says I am trying to “get the national groups to change,” that simply means I know better than the national organizations. Of course, there are also the tried and true explanations of this type of behavior; ego, power and personality conflict.
I might give each of the detractors in the article a pass if it was an LGBT publication, but to play it out in a mainstream publication does nothing to move LGBT equality forward. What it does is expose the divisions among us that can be used by our enemies to their advantage. It also may weaken the power of our national organizations in the halls of power.
Many in our community say in order to win equality we need to be in the suites and streets. Then why is it that so many seem to begrudge those in the suites? They, just like those of the grassroots, are making every effort to move LGBT equality forward. Yes, each faction may have a different strategy, but each believes they are doing all they can to move the ball down the field.
Everyone knows the famous Abraham Lincoln quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Well, one of the ways to divide a house is to constantly criticize those who live in it with you. Generally, the criticism is one-sided, coming from the grassroots and targeted at the well established organizations. Of course, occasionally a national organization will respond in kind, only to be vilified for attacking the “little” guy or gal; a perfect situation for those who want to undermine “Gay, Inc.”
As we begin the difficult next two years with a Republican House of Representatives, I hope that we can focus our attention on those who oppose us, not those who are also fighting the good fight. I won’t hold my breath.
