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18 Nov 2008 07:31 pm

Stonewall 2.0

A reader writes:

Go get 'em. Hubby and I used to be HRC Federal Club members, attended the dinners, schmoozed with the A-list fabulosities, and generally hated the whole scene but thought we were obliged for the sake of the community. Woke up finally thanks to MassEquality and KnowThyNeighbor, realized how giddily, well, stupid and pretentious the HRC people are (the leaders, not the grunts), and transferred our funding and efforts accordingly.

Another writes:

For me the day the music died with respect to contributing to HRC came in the early 2000s.  And it wasn't just HRC.

It was all the organizations that I contributed to.  It started to feel like I was constantly being asked to pay for my civil rights. And I think that is at the heart of why the approach has not been successful. Non gay people viewed the movement as one that paid for high price layers to win court cases, and paid for lobbyists to petition legislators to legalize marriage. Thus, when the courts and the legislators (like in CA) made decisions to support gay civil marriage--people felt that they were bought.

Saturday's protest in DC was what I had waited forever for.

People peacefully in the streets--not in court rooms or state house halls.   The young organizers realized that trying to buy our rights by donating to a group like HRC wasn't working. They knew that those of us who are in our 40s and their parents age have been doing that since they were born.

Walking with them in the rain, following their chants, in a protest bigger than I saw for Matthew Shepard or any AIDs event in DC was wonderful.   But what was great, was walking along 17th Street, where the people in cars honked in support, rolled down their windows and waved or cheered.  Those bystanders viewed it as a civil rights march--because that is what it was.   Because they saw all the gay & lesbians marching.  But they also saw many str8s walking with them.  It isn't a gay only issue now--a gay financed struggled anymore.   It's truly civil rights.

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