Lacey Williams
Why We March
Published March 10, 2010 | 
13,500. In the scheme of cities, and the world, that number doesn’t seem like that much. But in the scheme of the army, 13,500 troops is a force to be reckoned with.
13,500 troops constitute nearly a whole division of soldiers. 13,500 is two to three regiments, taking on combat missions. It’s nearly 13 battalions ready for service. It’s 67 companies fighting side by side. It’s 337 platoons taking on critical missions. It’s 1350 squads of soldiers watching out for each other. It’s 3375 fireteams rushing into battle to protect each other.
In reality, 13,500 is a lot. And when I think about the 13,500 soldiers who have been discharged from the military because they are gay Americans, it makes me think that our leaders must not actually care about this country’s national defense. In a time where we are fighting war on two fronts, is it really a good time to be discharging 800 mission critical troops (which, by the way, would constitute one battalion, four companies, 20 platoons, 80 squads and 200 fireteams)?
While our troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is it really a good time to be dismissing troops who have training in Arabic and Farsi? And if a soldier is willing to lay down his or her life for their country, shouldn’t that be enough to prove commitment and patriotism? Straightness is no litmus test for courage, valor, honor or heroism…just ask Mark Bingham of Flight 93.
No one should have to lie about his or her identity in order to fight for and protect the freedoms of others. If there was ever one group that deserved to be honored and respected, isn’t it our troops?
For these reasons, CRANE is marching on Myrick. You can not preach national security with one side of your mouth and then uphold a policy that hurts military readiness with the other. You don’t get to “own” issues of national security and defense while simultaneously going against the recommendations of top military officials who are serving now.
Please help us reach our goal of collecting 13,500 toy soldiers- one for every soldier willing to fight and die for this country but wasn’t considered “fit” due to their sexual orientation. It’s time to stop government sponsored discrimination.
Standing Up to Bigotry and Hate
Published February 16, 2010 | Hey all.
This is a post to inform you that CRANE (the Charlotte Rainbow Action Network for Equality) is officially back in action. We have several events planned in the upcoming weeks and promise to provide a continuum of activities so you can get your protest on.
Too often in our community, bigotry goes unchecked as progressive people turn the other cheek and mistakenly believe that truth and right will prevail. History has shown us that the arc of history is long but it bends toward justice. History also shows us that change, while a process, does not come to those who wait it out waiting for cooler heads to prevail. Change is a battle. Malcolm X teaches us that power never takes a step back except in the face of more power. We the people are that power. We the people, banded together, under a banner of justice and equality, can achieve change.
Please stand with us as we demand equality this year. There are many opportunities to stand up against bigotry, discrimination and hate. We will stand up to Commissioner Bill James using the dais to preach homophobia and hate. We will stand up to discriminatory practices like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and Proposition 8. We can use our base in Charlotte to tell our representatives that enough is enough. Anything less than full inclusion is not acceptable. That is our promise to you.
Let the games begin.
The Dawning of a New Era!(?)
Yesterday was a great day for CRANE and for the LGBT rights movement.
Wednesday night, several organizers from CRANE were out and about spreading the word about our March on Myrick campaign to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. We received donations of cash and soldiers and Thursday morning it was clear that we had met our goal! We have over 13,500 soldiers that we will take to Sue Myrick to show her that, especially in a time of war, it is foolish to support a policy as wasteful as DADT.
Since springing on the scene in 2008, CRANE has been taking up the banner of “get out and do something” activism. Since inception, we have been about engaging people in real live activism…instead of the “activism” we all have been doing in our facebook status updates and in the glow of our computer screens. Guess what? That arm chair activism has not been effective. For activism to work, it needs to be fortified with warm bodies, in the street, agitating and showing what chaos or headache may happen if the LGBT community is not listened to.
Yesterday, Lt. Dan Choi led a group of folks to the White House to protest the Obama administration’s seemingly laissez faire attitude toward overturning DADT. In an act of defiance, he handcuffed himself to the fence in front of the White House. Now, we can debate the efficacy of such an act. What is not up for debate is that there are pictures of an American hero, in uniform, whose career is on the verge of ending because he is gay, being led away in handcuffs by park police, in front of the residence of a supposed gay advocate. What a contrast! The Obama administration, which courted and won the majority of the LGBT community’s votes by talking about the sweeping changes it would make to the landscape of LGBT rights, is rapidly losing its street cred with gays.
On the same day, members of GetEqual staged a sit-in at Speaker Pelosi’s offices in San Fran and DC to press the Employment Non-Discrimination Act back to the surface. Again, we can debate strategy here about changing messages while the momentum is squarely on DADT, but what we can’t debate is that finally we have GAY groups willing to put themselves out there in support of gay causes.
I am so sick of our “leaders” doing all of “our” business behind closed doors…did we come out of the closet just to go back in whenever we are trying to make progress on an issue?
We need more civil disobedience. We need to advocate our causes in the daylight. We need to stop ceding power to people to speak for us when we are perfectly capable of speaking for ourselves. The community needs leaders. And it looks like in the absence of real, true leadership, people are finally standing up.
Thank you, Lt. Dan Choi. Thank you, GetEqual. And thank you to the hundreds of people who have supported CRANE and our March on Myrick campaign. This is just the beginning of an incredible ride toward freedom.