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.
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.