Renee Gannon
Prince Gomolvilas
Arlan Hamilton
Sanford Marcus
Susan Norfleet
The battle royale between Barney Frank and the majority of gay advocacy groups is likely providing delicious entertainment for the Christian right. Nothing pleases an enemy more than dissension in the ranks.--well maybe the one thing that pleases our enemies more is to see the ENDA debate suddenly focused on the complex transgender issue. It's a diversion and a misstep made in hell. With an ENDA vote already hanging by a thread we should be massing in front of Congress demanding an end to the outrage of minority discrimination in 21st Century America, instead gay advocacy groups across the nation are now taking to the streets to demand that ENDA be defeated.
Exclusion of transgender Americans from ENDA is heartbreaking, but Frank and a few others argue that casualties are an inevitable part of any war as are sacrifices and compromises. Victory is expensive--and not in terms of the dollars endlessly demanded by our generally ineffective gay advocacy groups. And compromise is essential to real progress, not extremism. Ironically, so many of us of have accepted necessary phased progress and compromises in the fight for same sex marriage, an effort that has almost exhaused the resources of gay advocay groups in the service of a very tiny minority within they gay community. But on an issue that profoundly matters to every single one of us, hundreds of gay advocacy groups around the nation are prepared to sabotage 30 years of work in the name of "all or nothing."
Until today, I've stood silent on the ENDA transgender issue because I've caused enough of a ruckus over these past few months with my belief that growing visibility dominated by gay stereotypes has done and continues to do serious damage to our fight for civil rights. But Barney Frank's October 11 press conference demands that I flap my jaws on this issue.
I miss the sissies and drag queens of yesteryear who were willing to get bloodied in the streets of San Francisco and New York in the angry defense of gay rights. Today's sissies however dominate the gay landscape with dreadful, pathetic YouTube videos, culture crushing gossip blogs and an epidemic of trashy and superficial styling and designing TV reality shows. I've also upset many folks with my criticism of Pride parades overrun by go go boys, male escorts and fetishists, parades that celebrate a victory we've yet to win, parades that were created to be activist marches but very much lost their way during the AIDS crisis. Recently I disparaged the public displays of assless chaps and naked men in cages on the very public streets of San Francisco, sending frightening messages of self-indulgent hedonistic sexual extremes to an America debating the status of gay families, gay children and gay civil rights. Nothing legitimatizes same sex marriage and a ban on workplace discrimination and hate crimes like a naked transvestite in 9-inch stilettos whipping little blond naked muscle boys in dog collars and leashes.
I suppose it will come as a surprise to no one that I stand with Barney Frank on the ENDA compromise. Ironically, as I've said before, I don't think ENDA will pass regardless of the version that is finally put to a vote. Why should it? Historically, civil rights legislation has been driven by widespread civil disobedience that has sent a consistent and angry demand to Congress. Power is taken, not handed out like swag at a GLAAD celebrity gala.
In a breathtaking display of ignorance, many gay advocates who oppose the Frank compromise are claiming that no other civil rights movement in history has succeeded through compromise.
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force claims "No civil rights movement has left part of its community behind as it moved forward, and we're not about to be the first one to do so."
History tells us otherwise. Starting with the ultimate American civil rights movement, the American Revolution, freedom and liberty for all excluded women and blacks. The Emancipation Proclamation partly moved us forward again followed by evolving civil rights laws between 1865 and 1876. The job wasn't completed until 1965. Women finally won their fight for the vote in 1920 but full civil rights protections emerged slowly in the decades to follow, finally reaching full fruition in the mid-1960s. Many compromises were made along the way by smart strategists like Barney Frank who kept their eye on the long term prize.
Many of us would like to blame a homophobic America for the fact that some 40 years since civil right legislation was enacted to provide protection for minorities, we remain excluded. We are incapable of examining and facing our own mistakes and taking some responsibility for a decades-long inability to achieve the simple goal of legally-mandated equality. As a community we are sadly deficient in our ability to achieve unity beyond our collective passion for exhibitionism, gossip, celebrities, style and design. Our leaders are incapable of inspiring us with vision and even when we see real competence and dedication in a gay leader, Barney Frank, for example, we tear him down--as we are doing now--and self-destructively and publicly challenge his professional judgment.
The Barney Frank controversy is yet another example of a community gone very wrong. Like petulant children, it's all or nothing. and like petulant children we may very well get another time out, once again sent to our room without a place at the table. We want it our way or no way and for 40 years "no way" has been the answer. So maybe it's time to reconsider the question.
The worst part of the gay civil rights movement is that unlike the women's movement and the black civil rights movement, we've had no leaders who inspire or even lead. Frank sadly lacks the charisma and presence to assume that role--which in no wary diminishes his heroic and workmanlike achievements. But who is there to inspire and rally the troops? Where is our Martin Luther King, Jr.? Our Malcolm X? Our Gloria Steinem? Our Betty Friedan? Our Susan B. Anthony? Where is our Moses to lead us to the Promised Land?
Should we be nipping at Barney's heals or should we be demanding our rights on the streets of Washington, New York and Chicago? Barney Frank has committed the gay sin of thinking through a strategy for victory. He recognizes the critical differences between an adult reality and a childish fantasy. The nationally televised visual of prominent black leaders marching through streets followed by outraged masses of ordinary men and women produces results. The nationally televised visuals of Chris Crocker and S&M Street Fairs do not.
Barney Frank strategically--albeit heartbreakingly--understands that an ENDA focused on the complex issue of transgender men and women moves us from a slim chance of victory to an utter defeat. In his October 11 press conference, Barny Frank referenced the Wizard of Oz; I shall do the same.
Frank wondered if gay rights leaders had been watching the "Wizard of Oz" too much. "Nancy Pelosi is not Glenda the good witch," Frank said. "She can't wave her magic wand and make people from all over this country vote however she wants them to vote."
Success is the result of a balance between the heart, the brain and courage. Too many us still believe that all one need do to solve our problems is click those ruby red slippers. The Frank ENDA compromise is founded in reality and intelligent strategy. Those among us who attack him are living in Oz amongst the poppies.
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