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 Among the Occupiers, the cry is often: Whose Streets? Our Streets! It’s also heard in LGBT activism, like the night the police tried to clear the street party for marriage equality in front of The Stonewall, but were stopped by this chant. It’s a statement that puts the issue of ownership over this society and our government in its appropriate perspective. It says that social policy should reflect the interest of the people, because the ownership resides with the people. It is this understanding that we need more of from both this movement generally, and Representative Polis’ approach to the Omnibus, which does not have a public process, or even a committee of community stakeholders empowered in the process. As a result, we are at the final stages, and no one can explain clearly why Title VI is not in the Outline, what process there is for community input, and why the community call for Full Federal Equality & Equal Civil Rights is being ignored. Via this platform, I am trying to open that dialogue and bring the conversations to light, so that all can be informed and participate. But already the problems with insider, behind-the-scenes, one-on-one conversations are appearing. One result was the last post I wrote – “Gay Inc Blocks Title VI,” which was based on the story I was clearly told by Rep. Polis’ staff, but is now denied. I shared that with HRC Board members directly via FB messages, and it resulted in a flurry of exchanges. Here is what I learned in separate calls from Representative Polis’ Chief of Staff, Brian Branton; Legislative Director, Eve Lieberman; and, from Fred Sainz, HRC’s Spokesman who was on the line with David Smith. I invite their corrections. I have no idea what the next steps are, but there are conference calls in various groups in the works. And I did made it clear that we were in this for our human rights, and not inclined to give up. REASONS OFFERED BY POLIS’ TEAM ON WHY TITLE VI IS NOT INCLUDED 1. Different visions of an “Omnibus”. Rep. Polis’ team said they see the omnibus as only a collection of previously filed bills. REPLY: The Outline they produced already includes new components – “public accommodations and public facilities” which are Titles 2 & 3 of the CRA, which are not in any previously filed bills. And if this new bill were only a collection of our past bills, it would be obviously incomplete, and there would be no value added. It would not be “omnibus”. Moreover, all previous draft “omnibus” bills, which prompted this effort, include Title VI, and various Resolutions and Proclamations from elected officials, and community centers, call for Equal Civil Rights, some Title VI specifically. 2. The Polis Outline Coverage & Title VI. Rep. Polis’ team stated that the other provisions included in the Outline, together, are the equivalent of adding SO&GI to Title VI. REPLY: This is not accurate as a matter of law or fact. We referred them to the DOJ’s office that deals with Title VI enforcement and Internal DOJ memorandum. 3. The Omnibus is a bad strategic idea. Rep. Polis’ team stated the piecemeal approach is more pragmatic. REPLY: We maintain that the reason for an omnibus is to make a statement about our equality, as a beacon for our cause, and an organizing impetus for our movement. We need a bill we believe in. 4. Opposition from LGBT Groups. Polis’ team’s explanation that Title VI was omitted due to opposition from HRC, NGLTF,NCLR, operating as a coalition, based on “pragmatism,” is no longer being offered (see below). 5. Pragmatism. This argument seems to have disappeared as well, as the focus is now on 1. Our vision of the Omnibus includes only previously filed bills; 2. Our Outline pieces covers Title VI, both of which are not accurate factually. PROCESS ISSUES 1. Process & Public Participation. We have urged that Rep. Polis’ team create a more transparent process for a public debate on the scope of the Outline, and then on any draft bill. Polis’ team is opposed to a more public process. REPLY: This keeps all the people being consulted individually one-on-one in the dark as to who else is in the conversation, and precludes open grassroots participation, or a community-wide dialogue. Our intention is to bring as much transparency to this process as possible and to advocate for a legitimate process on this matter of clear community-wide concern. 2. Timeline. Repeatedly, Polis’ Team has said that they are waiting for Rep. Baldwin to file her health care bill, before they can file, and evidently, before they are able to offer a draft for comment. REPLY: Rep. Baldwin is running for Senate so may be pre-occupied. But we maintain we should not have to wait to begin a community conversation on the Outline, which is already available, and that the Baldwin bill should not preclude a conversation about Title VI. Overall timeline as I understand it is still January. 3. “Agree to Disagree.” Rep. Polis’ team repeatedly used this phrase when there was disagreement, even as to factual, legal matters, like the scope of Title VI as compared to the Outline. REPLY: It reflects a problem power dynamic, whereby the Chief of Staff becomes the authority figure for our entire movement, empowered to make unilateral decisions on matters of general concern to our entire community, with no public dialogue, or even committee conversation. COMMUNITY POLITICS 1. Blog: “Gay Inc Stops Title VI.” Rep. Polis’ team is now saying that they were misunderstood on this point. HRC says they are not working in coalition on the Omnibus, and have not offered input against Title VI. REPLY: I stand by my earlier reporting, which accurately reflected the information I was given by Rep. Polis’ staff, and am deeply troubled by this turn of events, which suggests to me the run around. 2. HRC’s Position on Title VI. HRC’s Spokesperson said that HRC would not make a public statement on the issue of Title VI’s inclusion until they had a draft bill to comment on. They have the Outline, but say they have not commented on that, and did not oppose Title VI. REPLY: We requested a statement from HRC supporting the inclusion of Title VI in the Omnibus, but so far have not received one. There is no reason HRC should have to wait to join this vital conversation in earnest and openly. 3. LGBT CAUCUS (Congress). Concern was raised about being sensitive to the feelings of other Representatives, and the individual work on individual bills. REPLY: We reiterated that the LGBT Caucus should be coordinating on a strategy, and holding a public process engagement with the community on an omnibus bill. This reflects a general problem whereby our agenda is treated as the private purview of individual Congress people, instead of belonging to the people. WHOSE OMNIBUS? OUR OMNIBUS!
WHEREAS, the unity of cultures across time have embraced the concept of inalienable human rights that derive from our relationship to nature; and, on this 24th day of October 2011 the Oglala Sioux Tribe acknowledges Richard Noble and the grassroots LGBT Civil Rights Movement; and WHEREAS, a central tenant of United States law is the principle of non-discrimination and equal protection under the law as human rights; and WHEREAS, members of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered – and the two-spirits of this world – face historical and ongoing community rejection, political stigmatization and institutional discrimination based on their innate nature, causing untallied human tragedy, emotional detachment and suffering so extreme that many commit suicide; and WHEREAS, members of the grassroots LGBT community seek, via the American Equality Bill, to add “sexual orientation and gender identity” equally to all of America’s non-discrimination laws, both to advance this urgent cause for justice, and to protect the inherent right of each person to develop consistent with their natural sexuality and gender as their authentic self, safely and with appropriate cultural dignity and respect; and WHEREAS, the American Equality Bill reflects the Government’s duty to provide protection from discrimination for all people as a matter of public welfare, and the human rights duty to ensure legal equality for LGBT people under federal law in order to rebuke homophobia and transphobia with the full force of official United States governmental policy, including via the expenditure of all federal funds under Title VI; and WHEREAS, it is time to ignite the civil rights movement of the 21st Century to liberate the LGBT community in America, in order to reach every community, leaving no child anywhere alone suffering with discrimination or social rejection; and WHEREAS, from March to October, 2011, Richard “Rainbow” Noble will traverse the country from West Hollywood to Washington D.C. on the Civil Rights March Across America with a sacred Rainbow flag and staff to raise the collective call for freedom, showing remarkable bravery and dedication to his people; and NOW, THEREFORE, the President John Yellow Bird Steele of the Oglala Sioux Tribe here by calls upon all of humanity to rise in support of the liberation of our two-spirit brothers and sisters from social and legal discrimination, and to urge all official representatives to take urgent action to protect their human rights with the full inclusion of “sexual orientation and gender identity” under all of America’s Civil Rights laws. THEREFORE, I, John Yellow Bird Steele, hereby declar on this 24th day of October to honor and continue a collaborative effort with Congress for full federal equality and Civil Rights LGBT Omnibus Bill. JOHN YELLOW BIRD STEELE
The Occupy movement gets to the real root of why our governments are not protecting our social, political and economic human rights. To help dismantle this set up, here are some structural recommendations that seek to shift the balance of power between the people and their representatives, their governments, and their worlds’ institutions. They also recognize the value of natural resources belonging to the people, and start to return corporations to their appropriate place. While perhaps not radical, they are offered as achievable goals, that together could really alter the power structure, paving the way for more refined objectives. 10 PROPOSED DEMANDS FOR OCCUPY WALL STREET U.S. Constitutional Amendments: 2. Reverse Citizens United. Make clear Corporations are not people in the Constitution. 3. Separately Elect the U.S. Attorney General, in non-partisan race: i.e., not appointed by the President. This will make sure the people have a lawyer protecting their interests vis-a-vis the Gov’t (most state-level AGs are separately elected from the Gov). 4. Conscript Presidential Military Power to instigate wars and military actions abroad, without Congressional authorization. 5. International Human Rights Treaties Enforcement: Create a Private Right of Action to enforce International Treaties domestically, or alternatively, providing that the Gov’t must abide by them, enforceable by the U.S. AG perhaps. U.S. Domestic Policy: 7. Corporate Responsibility Law & Wealth Tax: Create legal code of ethics and transparency for corporations, and tax standing wealth of Corporations (to get them moving assets, not hording them, close all foreign holding loop holes). 8. Lobbyist Prohibition: Have a prohibition on former Congress people (and perhaps Gov’t employees) becoming Lobbyist for 20 years (eliminate influence peddling). Internationally: 10. Create Standing for Private Citizens/NGOs at World Court: International treaties (except WTO treaties) are not enforceable, except by gov’t against gov’t, and they don’t do that. We need a real Int’l legal & enforcement mechanism to enforce International Human Rights treaties. Posted on Occupy Wall Street comment here.
Why not? Last night leaders of Log Cabin, Marriage Equality New York, HRC, Freedom to Marry, Empire State Pride Agenda, and others came together to evaluate the Marriage Equality Victory in New York. It was a great meeting of the minds, and three main themes emerged: There were more precise factors mentioned as well: But the main message was Coalition, Coalition, Coalition. One person typed in a question on the live feed provided by the New Organizing Institute, which organized the event: “What are the plans for a national coalition?” NGLTF also talks about the value of Coalitions. Everyone does. So where is our National Coalition? Where is the Strategic Leadership it could secure? Why not Madeleine Albright? Or even James Carvell co-chairing with Mary Matalin? So as we pick a new head of the Human Rights Campaign, we need someone with experience in these key elements: coalition building (among peers, not top down), strategic campaigns (not organization building), and a commitment to a serious two party campaign. If straight allies and unexpected messengers were as helpful as Brian Ellner said last night, then it would be great for this to start at the top. Let’s break our own employment-discrimination history, and hire a straight person to head up HRC. But let’s hire someone based on the way they THINK, not how much money they have raised, or how long they’ve been among us. And above all, let’s hire someone with vision and a sense of urgency. National Coalition. National Coalition. National Coalition. Click your heels three times. Bind it in a prayer. Make it happen.
In a typically brilliant speech that promises little, Candidate Barack Obama delivered a highly touching and equally disappointing message at the HRC Gala on Saturday, October 1, 2011. Here’s what he could have said: “I will make it a priority of my administration to add SO&GI to the Civil Rights laws to end discrimination against the LGBT community. It is mandated by human rights law and principle. It is mandated by our Constitution, and it is long over due. It is an inalienable human right we are talking about – to be free from discrimination based on who you are — an inalienable human right that is being denied millions with dire consequences to their mental health and our nation’s welfare, and I will not rest until this is corrected.” Here is why the speech was so weak: It is a particularly interesting time for a status quo speech given that 2011 by all measures is proving to be quite the year with revolution in the air everywhere you turn. It is also in 2011 that LGBT children are routinely committing suicide rejected by their families and society. It is in 2011 that LGBT people live in a society that denies their legitimacy as beings entitled to respect and human rights. And still, in 2011 that LGBT Americans are excluded from the protective laws considered inalienable for all others. At this time, there is a reason revolution is in the air, and it is as true with the cause of LGBT liberation as any other. The government and civil society organizations have failed to evolve, to keep pace with the people. They have allowed power and access and money to corrupt the very system of representation. They are denying the will of the people out of a distorted sense of self interest trapped in an intentional system of perpetual greed and materialism to which they are blind. We are all in it, some more than others, but not forever. It is still in this framework, however, that Candidate Obama speaks to the American LGBT people through HRC’s lens of tuxedos and adulation. And what does the audience expect? What does he offer to the plight of millions suffering under institutional discrimination? For their loss of soul and community? He offers the Jobs Act, DOMA repeal and ENDA (jobs again) sometime in the future, along with words, loving, affirming words, like a parent, with the best intentions of spending time with you, once he’s done with work. Of a community embracing you, the stranger, when they’re ready on their terms. In passing, there’s a word here or there about “equal rights” or the “fight for equality” cloaked just so it blends, unhelpful to the opposition, but visible to activists hungry for a sign upon which to hinge mystical hope. Cloaked without content or commitment, with secret intention, like a uncertain suitor. Surrounding the scarcity, beautiful paragraphs ring rhapsodic revealing his heart’s truth, which he cannot speak for fear of politics and his desire to be President, which we share. Moving passages of his relationship with our movement’s mother, Judy Shepard, and touching moments about families loving not only their lesbian daughter but also her wife. It’s music to our ears. Truly unprecedented for a President, he brilliantly inches public consciousness and political conversation delicately forward with uncanny finesse, spinning friend and darting foe, though not on CNN, he speaks to insiders. BUT SOMETHING HUGE IS MISSING. He is after all a President of a country sworn to uphold its higher ideals. He has the power to bomb foreign countries killing thousands. He has the power to apply the Constitution based on his vast expertise. He has the power to set the political agenda of the nation and the world. So what’s missing in this speech to the HRC people? How about a speech addressing the LGBT community with a promise to do what the President has the power to do. Protect them. To roll up his sleeves and focus on resolving their plight for all of history. To pay tribute to Bayard Rustin’s role in the liberation that gifted him one term as President, if not two. Specifically, Candidate Obama – and all Presidential candidates — should make a direct promise to secure Equal Civil Right protections for LGBT Americans immediately as a priority in 2013. This should be accompanied by an unbridled campaign by our government, like there is in other countries, to eradicate homo/transphobia via public service campaigns, making restitution for its past role in our stigmatization, and working to change it. While the injury can not really ever be remedied, all LGBT Americans born prior to the end of legal discrimination deserve serious compensation for the harms perpetrated upon us. This is President Obama’s responsibility, and what we and the situation deserves. This is what our mental injury warrants. This is the harm the United States government needs to own up to and fix. To start the long process from where he is to where we should be, THE NEXT SPEECH to our people should begin with the recognition that discrimination is a social illness that calls for radical intervention as a matter of public health and welfare. It should clarify that the Government’s failure to act is a violation of international human rights laws the United States helped to create based on our own principles. He should make clear, by documenting and acknowledgement our suffering, the urgent need for justice it represents, and the obligation of the government to protect us and to take action. With all of this missing, the most disconcerting aspect is how Obama in the speech miscasts our roles as though it were the obligation of the oppressed people to liberate themselves, rather than a clear obligation of the President to apply the Constitution aggressively to protect people from discriminatory harm. And while it’s a good message to tell the community to keep the pressure up, which he repeats frequently though we never heed, it is ultimately insulting and patronizing. This is his job. Not ours. Instead, our legal inequality is treated like an acceptable reality. Our cause still talked of as a waiting game for us, not him. And our dignity remains a distant idea, nice in theory, but not urgent, like what an epidemic of suicide or the on-going mental abuse of 20 million survivors might necessitate. Of course, it’s tough to feel urgency when everyone is wearing tuxedos. This is perhaps our most dangerous public relations success. We’ve buried the emotional impact of discrimination under a facade of rich and happy people. We’ve almost convinced ourselves, but the sadness within swells with the truth we’ve been shamed into hiding. Doesn’t it? It’s unimaginable that there is another group today on earth that experiences community rejection of this magnitude. A rejection by a society of an entire subgroup, isolated not at birth or together in their own group, but as individuals in every day of their life by forced emotional detachment. Human lives floundering in a religious environment hostile to their very existence that seeks to deny their souls’ journey on earth. An internal suffering that drives people to suicide and parents to reject their own children!? This is barbaric and unbelievable, and what do we get? Jobs & Marriage, but not really marriage. Repealing DOMA doesn’t actually end marriage discrimination in America. It will only end pro-active federal government discrimination in this one arena. We will still not be able to marry in 44 states, and no one is talking about a federal law to outlaw that. And still we wait. The saddest part of the speech was the audience and how eagerly we accepted it, thrilled simply because he was among us, desperate for approval as rejected children would be, or as victims assimilated for survival, or perhaps simply trapped by power. Contrast that with the response of the immigrant community at the Council of La Raza when the entire audience heckled the President in unison: “Yes You Can,” which weeks later resulted in a new enforcement policy, showing we can demand more, and still support him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqve7zzX4HQ (heckling at 16:00). So ultimately, this is our game and we must decide. How much longer can we avoid the elephant in the room with a mixed race President ignoring that America has non-discrimination laws, called Civil Rights laws, that fail to protect us? How long do we talk around the existing solution those laws have long represented to oppressed peoples? How much longer will we accept friendship as a substitute for leadership? And in which campaign cycle will we stand up and say: ENOUGH WAITING, WE’RE NEXT. 2011 and 2012 may well be that moment. It’s in the air, like revolution. Our time has come provided we make a glorious noise for justice so loud it cannot be ignored. To ride this wave, Candidate Obama could get ahead of the LGBT movement’s constrained and out-dated vision. He could make it clear that he intends to END DISCRIMINATION against LGBT Americans, consistent with an ethical and moral obligation. He could say, as posted above,: “I will make it a priority of my administration to add SO&GI to the Civil Rights laws to end discrimination against the LGBT community. It is mandated by human rights law and principle. It is mandated by our Constitution, and it is long over due. It is an inalienable human right we are discussing – to be free from discrimination based on who you are — an inalienable human right that is being denied millions with dire consequences to their mental health and our nation’s welfare, and I will not rest until this is corrected.” This is the energy that will light the flame of enthusiasm we lack. These are the calls that ignite a revolution, or draw a revolution in progress to a leader or candidate. In this environment, half measures carefully crafted to avoid political engagement, like this speech, will not cut it. There is too much volatility and the people are looking for real leadership far beyond political brinksmanship, and they know the difference. We all know the difference. Fortunately, no matter what the gay corporate strategy or the President’s strategy, the community is poised to rise up. As 2011 is already the year of insurrection and we are already part of that swell. We are the equality movement that seeks to forge our society into the “e pluribus unum” the President so rightly speaks of, echoing the Wizzard of Oz or Buddha. We are the last stand on intolerance. We are the spiritual turning point. Our cause is evolution in the making calling fundamental questions of compassion, love and our oneness. So the issue of our civil rights equality will not be ignored. It cannot in good conscious be avoided. As voters and citizens, we deserve to know what we are voting for. And as LGBT Americans, we deserve to know that our liberation will be the Nation’s priority. If those in power set the stage and roll out these messages with determination as to the righteousness of this call for justice, we will ride high. Otherwise, we will storm the barricades once again for justice, and this time, it will be for our dignity. This is the wave of the future. The tides of life are changing. It’s in the air. TRANSCRIPT & VIDEO OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S REMARKS: VIDEO:
Bravo and thank you Carlos Martinez of The GLBT Community Center of Colorado/The Center for this remarkable Resolution calling for SO&GI Civil Rights Equality!
To see other endorsements, and add yours, go to: http://www.equalitygiving.org/American-Equality-Bill-Endorsers
The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell takes effect today. It is a very good reason to celebrate and to thank the large number of people and organizations that worked tirelessly for 17 years to see this day. TODAY WE ARE A LITTLE BIT MORE EQUAL
Why didn’t the Index rise to 16% as expected for reaching the goal? Read below. STILL OUR SERVICEMENBERS WILL NOT BE TREATED EQUALLY The DADT repeal legislation that passed Congress last December was significantly different from the Military Readiness Enhancement Act introduced earlier in two important ways:
Furthermore, article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice has not been revoked by Congress (despite requests from the Military). This article forbids any act of sodomy (whether among people of the same gender or not). Equality in the military will require Congress to act again, otherwise a future administration could ban LGBT members from serving by using a directive from the Department of Defense—without need for an act of Congress or even an Executive Order from the President. If Congress doesn’t act, another venue that can bring equality is the successful lawsuit that the Log Cabin Republicans are pursuing with the intention to proving, to the Supreme Court if necessary, that discrimination of LGBT people in the military is unconstitutional. MONITORING PROGRESS To monitor progress, we have created After DADT; this is a resource that lists 49 pending issues for LGBT servicemembers to be treated as equals. Check the list of 49 pending issues for LGBT equality in the military. While we celebrate today as an important day for LGBT equality, we need to continue to fight for full legal equality… including, still, in the military.
JOINING A GROWING MANTRA, the Honorable Jean Quan, Mayor of Oakland, CA has issued a beautiful Proclamation clearly calling upon the United States government to protect the human rights of LGBT Americans!! The Proclamation calls for The American Equality Bill, and touts the valiant and historic Civil Rights Walk by Richard Noble, an Oakland native, who has already walked over 1000 miles to stir our Country to this urgent cause. THANK YOU MAYOR QUAN for your VISION & LEADERSHIP!!
WALK FOR CIVIL RIGHTS & EQUALITY WHEREAS, the human rights duty to end discrimination based on status and to ensure equal protection of the law are ideals long revered in the United States, though they remain unfilled by the federal government for LGBT Americans; and WHEREAS, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered human beings continue to endure legal discrimination based on their innate status, causing untallied human tragedy, loss of life, psychological damage and abuse that calls for a comprehensive federal response to rebuke ingrained homophobia and transphobia with the full force of official United States policy and enforcement powers; and WHEREAS, progress for human rights has always been the product of brave individuals taking bold action and our support for visionary initiatives; and WHEREAS, in this spirit Richard Noble, an Oakland son, began the National Civil Rights Walk Across America on March 12, 2011 walking from the Golden Gate Bridge, though Oakland, and onward to Washington, D.C., to awaken our consciousness to this unfulfilled obligation and to advance filing and passage of The American Equality Bill; and WHEREAS, the American Equality Bill exemplifies how Congress should fulfill its obligation to protect LGBT human rights by adding “sexual orientation and gender identity” equally to America’s non-discrimination laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Government Employees Act, the Civil Service Reform Act, and related laws; and WHEREAS, Mr. Noble has already carried the Rainbow flag an historic 1000 miles, receiving Proclamations from the Mayors of West Hollywood and Salt Lake City, City Council Resolutions, and many other citations of honor from local, state and federal officials; and, WHEREAS the City of Oakland, a city rich in its diversity, is dedicated to the fulfillment of these ideals and goals, and urges the protection of LGBT citizens everywhere across America and beyond. NOW, THEREFORE, I, Jean Quan, Mayor of Oakland, California, do proclaim March 12th as “Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Civil Rights Awareness Day” and encourage residents of Oakland, our Congressional Representatives and the President to work expeditiously to fulfill our duty, and this quest, to ensure liberty and justice for all. MAYOR JEAN QUAN
It’s been a big week. We had an earthquake, a hurricane, an apparent divorce between HRC & Joe Solmonese, GetEqual hosted 90 amazing activists in Memphis, and Richard Noble hit the 1000 mile mark – on foot – carrying a Rainbow Flag across country for our Civil Rights & The American Equality Bill. Oh, and they opened a MLK monument in D.C., almost, and commentator Don Lemon came out as gay and as an advocate for LGBT “civil rights”, specifically.
Of all of this, walking over five & a half months and 1000 miles for Civil Rights Equality blows my mind the most. It is the obsessive power upon which our civil rights movement is being built. It is the path to freedom one step at a time, one person at a time, like that chronicled in the National Civil Rights Museum. And in that spirit, high in the Rockies, RICHARD NOBLE has reached the 1000 mile mark in Steamboat Springs, CO!!! It’s a ritzy ski resort, that coincidentally is experiencing its own suicide problem, and was hosting an awareness campaign when he arrived. Suicide is a steady refrain in Richard’s talks. Among the events there, the stars aligned as Richard found the famous sports announcer Bob Roll, who he enjoined in the call to end teenage suicide. Inspired and curious about this journey, Mr. Roll offered a spontaneous PSA for Richard on bullying. Tomorrow, Richard sets sail pushing his carriage over the Rockies for Bolder where Representative Polis, OUT Colorado, and the Mayor’s office await. The banner for The American Equality Bill in Bolder is already to unfurl.
Honors for this already historic Walk for Civil Rights are piling up from every state he has visited from California to Nevada, through Utah, and now Colorado. Starting with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the West Hollywood City Council, he has garnered official citations from Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Congresswoman Barbra Lee, State Senator Parks of Nevada, the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Mayor Cashell of Reno, and more are in the works. Mayor Becker of Salt Lake City joined West Hollywood’s Mayor Heilman and the WEHO City Council in making unequivocal and historic statements calling for Equal SO&GI Civil Rights in all of America’s non-discrimination laws and calling upon their Congressional representatives to file The American Equality Bill. Beyond politics, the stories are even more remarkable as Richard encounters each human being along the way, finding a welcoming front yard and shower, a cabin with a violin player, a Buddhist gay couple, or simply camping near one of the many free spirits also exploring America. Fortunately, all of this is chronicled in his fascinating daily blog. Reading it regularly, it is quite remarkable how, in a few honest words and pictures, you can find yourself also afloat on the journey of a lifetime. News articles pepper the landscape from small town to state wide, LGBT and online. You can see them here. Unfortunately, the Advocate still refuses to cover this, sadly more consumed with glitter, than profound sacrifice and intention. These things mean a lot to an activist trying to be heard, not to mention our ability to evolve our movement. Aside from going through two pairs of boots already, and encounters with a rattlesnake, the journey has been largely one of daily magical encounters. From dinosaur bones, to ghost towns, to ski resorts, Mr. Richard Noble in tiny-huge ways is making the ground shake spiritually for our civil rights. Hats off to you sir. I hope the next leader of HRC has what you have. Clarity of vision for our civil rights equality, independence of spirit to walk the truth, and determination of will to believe that one person can change the world. Under the stars, safely we hope, just imagine the collective calling that will one day ensue for our civil rights equality. And imagine under the hot sun how loud your voice will be then. Imagine our equality. To Follow Richard’s Walk Daily Talk about the harm caused by LGBT discrimination. The AEB Project is all grassroots, all volunteer, seeking to change the movement agenda to full SO&GI Civil Rights Equality. Activists wanted. All welcomed.
The Task Force is now soliciting submissions for the 2012 Creating Change in Baltimore in February 2012. Hopefully, this time, they will overlay thematic focus and strategic movement organizing and planning. With over 250 panels, the annual conference of 2,500 or more is like a grand bazaar, with topics juxtaposed in a chaotic manner that thwarts any trace of focus or collective organizing potential. To see this clearly, it’s necessary to have a look at the 2011 program book: http://www.thetaskforce.org/cc11/downloads/cc11_program.pdf Contrast this with the NAACP’s annual conference last weekend where the most pressing issues are put forth in a streamlined manner, and clear structures and processes exist for soliciting community input and organizing forward. Here is the 2011 NAACP program book: http://naacp.3cdn.net/9da369211baa75a40d_7ym6r9c6e.pdf I could rant on and on about a lot of great things about Creating Change, like the people there, including the Task Force staff, although there is an air of Stepford wives meets team Disney — a modality inherent these days in corporate politics. But a cacophony of brilliant organizers are present, many with inspired motivation in their hearts. And based on the sessions I attended, I suspect each of the 250 sessions offers some gem and truth, although some are dangerously laden with misguided instruction of profound significance. But as a whole, while clearly building community and institutions, the Task Force conference is failing the ultimate mission of facilitating the organization of thousands of groups and activists into a coherent machine designed to end our legal inequality in the states and federally. And because this organizing does not exist elsewhere, the only LGBT annual conference must do both/and. Is Creating Change a well-produced event, with all the bells and whistles? Yes. Do all the folks there on expense accounts love it and leave feeling energized to go home and continue their work? Most definitely. Is Creating Change actually creating the change we need as a political movement? No. Could it do both? YES WE CAN. Rae Carey’s plenary speech this year, touted as the “State of the Movement,” was much improved over the previous year, this time putting a real dream out in front of a one-day LGB or T President. But it also overshot, skipping Equal Civil Rights for SO&GI, and leapfrogging our collective message beyond LGBT non-discrimination to embrace the call for full human rights for all people. In setting the sites on economic and social justice for all, the Task Force is creating an endless organizational trajectory. But it fails to seize the moment at hand — the moment of our own Civil Rights battle, and of our own liberation from discrimination, for which we desperately need to organize. Is this chaos accidental? I don’t know. But I do know it buttresses the main underlying difference between the black civil rights movement and ours – ELECTED LEADERSHIP. It keeps everyone from having ONE conversation, or an organized series of conversations. It keeps “we the people” from discussing AGENDA, STRATEGY, and a WORKING GAME PLAN for the up-coming year. It keeps us distracted and happy, laughing at the fabulous Kate Clinton, instead of acknowledging the structural limitations of our national and state movements. At my first CC in Dallas in 2010, an award winner got up and said (paraphrasing): “It should be the goal of everyone here to work themselves out of a job.” And of 2,500, maybe 5 clapped and whistled. This reflects the truth that an end game is not part of this equation. There is no movement strategy to organize collectively to end federal discrimination. There is no intention to facilitate organizing that would give these amazing people a real hope of liberation in the short term. I could go on, but hopefully those in charge – the powerful but hands-off donors and board members – will study these two program guides and ask themselves one question: ARE WE ORGANIZING TO WIN? Are we organizing at all? Or is this community building for the sake of community building? Is there a way to do both – keep the best of what we are doing now AND ADD WHAT IS MISSING. Creating Change is a beautiful chaos in need of different intelligent design. But then again, so is our entire movement. If we really want to create change, we need to change how we go about it, or all we create is “same”, and more of the same is not enough to win equality, if that indeed is the goal.
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PROCLAMATION OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
CITY OF OAKLAND
