Quote:
Originally Posted by Martina
Unfortunately, with activism, a lot of the time you don't get to choose your fights. I sure would not have chosen gay marriage as the central issue of the fight for lgbtq rights. Look at that map that Howsoonisnow posted showing all the states where we can be fired for being gay. That's an issue I could get behind with more enthusiasm. But inevitably, because my enemies were coming after me on the gay marriage issue, I stood behind it too.
I think that whenever we are attacked, we should stand up. I don't care if people like us. They don't have to. What they need to know is that every time they try to hurt us, we are going to stand up to them using every resource at our disposal: protests, lawsuits, boycotts, art, and so on.
I don't care about the corporation itself. But all those people out there supporting them -- I want some of us out there looking them in the eyes letting them know that we see them for the bigots they are.
|
I disagree with this. There are plenty of examples of ways in which communal activism does not mean single-issue "activism." Most protests (at least here) are like that. For example, at Slut Walk most of us were not simply protesting the words of the police officer who inspired the inception of Slut Walk. As Slut Walk moved past its first annual march, you saw people protesting a multitude of issues, and speeches that moved beyond that one event and touched many experiences and many issues. The same thing goes with many of the queer marches here, that are not single-issue, but give people the avenue to voice all forms of oppression that touch our community.
I think the methods of the mainstream lgbt community in the States isn't all that great. Basically, right now its seems their tactic is to just react to every little thing the religious right throws at them. Someone expresses anti-same-sex marriage beliefs and they react. Someone calls homosexuality a sin and they react.
Activism needs to be more than just a series of isolated reactions to individual celebrity opinions. That doesn't cover the whole problem, and often what ends up happening is that less and less attention is given to portions of the queer community that are living in totally inhumane situations...and yes! In North America! It diverts attention away from serious social issues, and let's be frank...most mainstream lgbt folk think the same as most of the rest of society when it comes to the disadvantaged: "homeless people are just lazy," "sex workers don't deserve rights," "more border security to keep 'illegal aliens' out," "bdsmers just make us look like crazy perverts at Pride," "racism doesn't exist, people are just lazy" etc. etc. That is the very real reason why the lgbt rights movement has become largely single-issue...because the average person just doesn't give a shit about people who didn't have the same social privileges as they did.
To me, trying to make even small changes mean helping not for profit organisations that make differences in the lives of disadvantaged queer folks. Volunteering. Marches that allow people to voice all the ways in which queer rights are being violated. And that means people are gonna have a lot to say about misogyny, aboriginal rights, poverty, anti-sex worker and anti-immigrant sentiments and many more. That is activism...not kiss-ins and single-issue reactionaries.
Also, I don't get why people are making this into an issue of Chick-fil-a being "unAmerican" or "unChristian." I mean, really, people? Neither of these things are of any consequence. This whole "unAmerican" thing seems to be an insult that Americans throw at each other when they don't agree with one another about something. In that case, its failing to see the damage that patriotism and this whole notion of "Americanness" does. I don't think I've seen many Germans outside of the far right fringe cry out that something is "unGerman" (and usually that hails back to Nazism and the idea of "the folk," and Germans are pretty conscious about using that kind of language) or a Swede about a policy being "UnSwedish." Americans seem to have this obsession with patriotism that actually
causes problems and second class citizens. Its this whole competition of "Americanness" that often allows fundamentalists to rave against the queer community (and many other communities for that matter...historically and in the present), because their idea of "Americanness" is traditional family values. Then the queer community screams back that such and such a thing is "unAmerican" because it violates "such and such amendment" (which apparently is serious business in the good ol' US of A). Such arguments are pointless. It has nothing to do with a who's "more American" than whomever pissing contest. It has to do with allowing people to have their basic human rights and allowing every citizen of a nation to have the same rights. That is something that people fight for in most nations, and is generally the hallmark of most progressive nations.
As for the christian part...are we really going to sit here and argue over what is essentially mythology? Its so silly. We have our share of fundies here in Canada as well, with the REAL Women of Canada and whatnot...people just accept that they're nutjobs and go on to more important things. We don't argue with them as to whether or not they're "good christians." I really don't give a shit if a fundie is practicing "good christianity" (whatever the hell that is) or not by being a bigot. I'm more concerned with the fact that they're a bigot who thinks that their personal opinions about another group of people makes them think that they have the "freedom" to promote hatred. Luckily, they don't have that right legally, and for that I'm at least partially grateful. For example, recently here a gay couple was denied an apartment because of the landlord's "personal beliefs." The court barely took a second to side with the couple. You don't get an arena to affect others' lives just because you decide to hate on them...that should never be a right.
And yeah, I agree with what some others have written here...that essentially, freedom of speech does not mean having the right to spout hatred in public and to stomp on others' rights to a safe environment. Its always christians who seem to think they do have that right. I've never seen a group so disrespectful of others' safe spaces and rights to total equality.