Plus: Praise for Guv’s ex-aide Charles O’Byrne
N.Y. Assembly member would be the first openly gay U.S. Senator.
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By Allen Roskoff
Friday, November 07, 2008
The Nov. 15 rally at Manhattan’s City Hall protesting the passage of California marriage ban Prop 8 got extensive media coverage and the turnout was good. Having said that, for all it accomplished in terms of raising public awareness on marriage equality, it still was a single-issue event and failed to connect to other issues in the LGBT community.
The rally was well intentioned and organized by a handful of young online activists who were new to mass rally organizing. Some have called it a “passing of the torch.” While I applaud those who put the rally together, I really hope the new activists will learn from those who came before them. The organizers seemed to be excessively willing to compromise with the New York Police Department (NYPD), and they probably did not understand the dynamics of the civil liberties issues at a rally when they agreed on logistics with the police. I wish they had spoken with more experienced activists who were familiar with rallies and demonstrations.
For years, the police have been restricting the right to protest, and unfortunately the rally organizers went right along. The NYPD has been using the police control model they employ at Times Square for New Year’s Eve for political rallies and demonstrations, putting the protesters in pens and breaking up the crowd into sections. The symbolism and unity of the protest are disrupted when we are herded into pens like livestock. Could you imagine if that had happened at the Lincoln Memorial for Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech?
I don’t approve of using barriers to separate participants at rallies or demonstrations. The organizers should have objected to the NYPD use of this model on First Amendment grounds. Protesting is protected under the right of free speech and the right to assemble. Unfortunately, to my knowledge the organizers of the Proposition 8 rally did not object to the use of the barriers. In fact, they seemed to go along with it.
I also strenuously object to the invocation given, a separate speech given by a representative from the MCC Church and the Gay Men’s Chorus singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” There were no prayers or jingoism at either of the protests I attended in West Hollywood and Silver Lake, California. I hope these gestures are not reflective of our new leadership.
Is it really necessary for us to appear as churchgoers and nationalists to be seen as worthy of our rights? Historically, protests and rallies were about equal rights and sexual liberation, not assimilation.
I found the crowds more intense and angry in Los Angeles. Then again, they were more directly impacted by the decision.
No one at the rally raised the issue of where Mayor Bloomberg was? Most of the crowd probably had no clue about his real record on LGBT issues. Unfortunately, our community is awfully gullible when it comes to politicians who claim to support us but actually have obstructed us every step of the way. This includes LGBT politicians who support Billionaire Bloomberg more than they support the community (and, yes, that includes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn). Remember Brian Ellner? When he came out of nowhere to run for Manhattan Borough President, he claimed to be the self-appointed spokesman for LGBT issues. After losing the race, he accepted a high-level appointment in the Bloomberg administration at a salary of $175,250 and ended his political career.
Regrettably, the disappointments do not end there. Seventeen days after his victory, President-elect Obama announced that he will await a consensus before acting to abolish Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It certainly did not take him long to renege on a campaign promise. I guess that the failed and discredited DADT policy has been given “low priority” by the Obama administration. I am already tired of some of the President-elect’s followers defending every action he takes. One supporter justifies Obama’s inaction on DADT declaring that the administration has other more urgent matters to address. Haven’t these Obama defenders heard of multi-tasking? He then argues that Obama has other important matters requiring political capital, but won’t that will always be the case? I heard that excuse far too often during President Clinton’s administration and look how little we got from him. Blind allegiance to any politician is not a progressive mindset.
Don’t misunderstand me. I am not the least bit emotional on the matter of DADT. I only address it because it seems such a movement priority, not because it is important to me. I like the fact that we play less of a role in invading foreign countries and killing innocent people. Perhaps DADT could be viewed as making us involuntary “Conscientious Objectors.”
During the Vietnam era, John Kerry and Wesley Clarke were not the real war heroes; my heroes were those who were conscientious objectors or sought refuge in Canada.
I agree with what Abby Hoffman said when he was calling for an end to wars: “I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.”
Allen Roskoff is a longtime gay rights activist and co-author and lobbyist for the nation’s first gay civil rights bill. He is now president of the citywide Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.
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