GLBT' s its really past time for marches, sit ins, and the

[mitchtv]

whole gamut of civil disobedience vehicles available to us. you catch the disagreeable attitude of many strate DU'rs ? Well i would like to see that multiplied tenfold. No one ever got their rights by asking nicely for them. We must become an intolerable nuisance.

[jonnyblitz]

1. here at DU i don't see it as a straight vs gay thing in determining

who are allies are. some of the most eloquent posts on our behalf have been written by our straight allies and some of our biggest detractors have been some of our fellow gays who are more interested in cheerleading for Obama.

[mitchtv]

4. Not determining factor but our enemies are mostly of that

Lifestyle> Sure we have allies, but it is up to us to lead.

[ThomCat]

6. Very true, but

my biggest disappointment has been with the large number of straight people who simply assume that they are our allies because they don't openly bash us, as if that's enough. But they think we need to tow some line and act a certain way to "deserve" their support.

You scratch the surface and homophobia comes screaming out of too many wounded egos.

We have awesome, wonderful straight allies. We know them because they actively stand with us, and actively stand up for us and post with us.

If I don't see someone actively being an ally I won't unconditionally assume that anyone here at DU is just because they insist they are. :(

[Deja Q]

29. Quite right. It's about blind support. Not to toe the line or to have qualifiers.

:sarcasm:

Human nature is about cliques. Always has been, always is. That much I have noticed too. As have you. As has everybody else.

And it works both ways too.

I think we all have experienced that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. there are plenty of straight du'ers who have severe fanicitis too. nt

[jonnyblitz]

21. fanicitis? what is that? nt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. a term i coined, extreme fans of any politician has 'fan'-icitis

[jonnyblitz]

26. oh i agree! i thought you did an extreme typo of " fantasies"!

:rofl: but i agree with the fan thing. some of it gets seriously fucking creepy, bunny boiler creepy.

[MNBrewer]

2. Interesting idea

[Downtown Hound]

3. I'm straight, and I'll gladly commit a little civil disobedience

with my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Although, the possibility of being in a jail cell with a dozen or so gay men is um...interesting, to say the least. LOL. If any of you have any actions planned in Northern California drop me a line. I've been kind of looking to get back in the fight anyways.

[mitchtv]

8. I've spent a short time in jail for the cause

Luckily I escaped most of the time. It's amazing how far a little bit of leadership goes. Organize, organize , organize. At this point in my life jail could be very dangerous, as I depend on exotic medicines to stay alive. It would be nice to shut down I5 or LAX IMO (think big)




On Halloween night (31 October), 1969, sixty members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) staged a protest at San Francisco's Examiner in response to another in a series of news articles disparaging LGBT people in San Francisco's gay bars and clubs.<1><2> The "peaceful protest" against the "homophobic editorial policies" of the San Francisco Examiner turned "tumultuous" and was called "Friday of the Purple Hand" and "Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand".<3><4><5><6><2> Examiner employees "dumped a bag of printers' ink from the third story window of the newspaper building onto the crowd".

I narrowly escaped spending time in jail that day, I was lucky there were a lot of leaders that day, more willing to step up to the SFPD than I.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_symbols#...

[Downtown Hound]

9. I have too. Iraq War protest, San Francisco 2003

Good times. The one thing you have going for you is that if you were to do it in San Francisco like I did, the cops tend to be a bit more sympathetic to you. They were actually pretty nice to me once they got the cuffs on, and they treated me well. For gay activists, I'm willing to bet that they'll be cool to you if you don't resist and are respectful when you ask for your medicine. A lot of them are gay themselves.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Deja Q]

30. I see little to joke about.

Are you implying prison rape?

Granted, I am guilty in speaking of riddles, but prison rape jokes and other stereotypes are certainly not appreciated. To quote you:

"Although, the possibility of being in a jail cell with a dozen or so gay men is um...interesting, to say the least. LOL."

Would you clarify that statement?

Thank you.

[AnAnonymousDemocrat]

34. They're on auto-homophobia

The concept of "gay" being a joke is so ingrained in our culture that a lot of people don't even know what you're talking about unless you explain it to them.

The prison rape jokes are almost as ubiquitous as using the word "gay" to mean "stupid" or "silly", as in, "This computer is acting gay", or "Quit being gay, moron!"

I can't even think about it too much or else it drives me a little crazy. I just have to turn my brain off a little bit in order to "go with the flow" sometimes.

[donheld]

5. strate?

[mitchtv]

7. yeah, maybe Strait might be better

n/t

[CTyankee]

11. There is civil disobedience and civil disobedience. It's important to be sure of what you want

to happen.

This 69 year old grandmother recalls the anti Vietnam War days. there were those in the ecumenical anti war movement who did peacefully practice cd and spent a few nights in jail and had long, drawn out, expensive litigation, such as Ben Spock and Bill Coffin. Then there were the Bill Ayers types. Ayers has been lately giving interviews saying his type of cd was wrong and didn't stop the war and failed.

I saw the 1968 riot at the Dem Convention in Chicago. It helped give us Richard Nixon and more war, not less, and with a vengeance. It helped get us down the path to Ronald Reagan as the Dem party got split by the war and the Republicans capitalized on the cd of the more extreme left. Sorry, but it's true.

My example is, hopefully, not an analogy to what you are suggesting. But I want you to know that from my standpoint, I have seen what worked and what didn't. What is worse, what didn't work brought even worse outcomes than we had ever dreamed. I don't know if there could have been a better outcome. After all, young men's lives were at stake so that good reason to be bellicose themselves. My only question is in outcome: what happened.

It is not my purpose here to lecture anyone. Sadly, history does this all by itself when it repeats itself.

Just a word to the wise...

[Downtown Hound]

13. There was also the recent RNC riots, and those didn't help the

Republicans at all. Despite all the efforts of the right wing and the media to capitalize on the 3 or 4 broken windows that occurred (probably mostly done by agent provocateurs) in a effort to demonize the left, they completely failed. I think people are ready for some action against the government. We have been complacent for too long.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. no one has suggested violent movements. i dont understand why every time

we discuss peaceful protests and sit ins, its assumed we want to riot.

[CTyankee]

16. Read the headline of the post: GLBT' s its really past time for marches, sit ins...

I really don't think that a riot is what was in mind. But we do have to mind history and what happens when things spiral out of control.

Oh lioness, I am really not your enemy here. I am just so wary after the experience I had and what I saw in the 60s and 70s. I saw such good people being chewed up and spit out by the right wing haters and warmongers and how they manipulated the American people. And how we got Reagan as a result! That alone was a catastrophe, not only for gay people but for everyone!

Maybe I'm just getting a little depressed here but when I read this post I am reminded of those days of dreaming for better things and having those dreams turned against us all in such horrible ways that we became even worse off. I wish it had been different. The whole world was watching. Indeed. But it didn't matter...

[Jamastiene]

18. I wish there was a way to make the book,

Gandhi, His Life and Message For The World, by Louis Fischer, required reading.

[CTyankee]

19. Thanks. I will look for it. n/t

[mitchtv]

28. yeah? well it is past time

have you seen any sitins? Are you saying Act Up was inefective. Believe me I was there in 68-72 HHH gave us nixon for failure to grow a spine.We would have been united in 68 if HHH came out against that idiot war. In my headline I when I stated it was past tim for the CD to begin, as there has been none, not that the time was over , sorry I wasn't more clear

[MikeE]

20. Very true

And, it would be very easy and effective to have protests in June as part of the annual Pride celebrations that would shut the cities down by blocking major traffic arteries, etc.

[Two Americas]

24. I don't agree

It is not standing up to the right wingers that causes them to win, it is the failure by too many among us to stand up.

The conservatives in the party have been pushing this line for decades - that it was the radicals that gave us Nixon. The lesson we are supposed to learn from that is to be passive and silent, and let the conservatives in the Democratic party handle things. I say that it is they, the conservatives in the party, who gave us Nixon.

[TheWraith]

15. I don't think you've been paying careful enough attention to what actually works.

The real swings in public opinion are due to exposure to a simple positive message. You want to make a big difference, get a group together to bankroll a series of 30-second TV ads featuring gay couples talking a little about themselves, and put them on all the major channels.

[mitchtv]

27. the true voice of Gay Liberation speaks

nn/t

[TheWraith]

32. Actually, somebody who influences peoples thoughts and opinions for a living.

You're right, I should bow to the wisdom of the person on the internet who thinks that enraging people is a good way to win hearts and minds.

[Jamastiene]

17. We need a leader with LOTS of charisma and dedication.

Most of the openly gay celebrities have tons of charisma, but leave a lot of be desired when it comes to dedication. They seem aloof and out of it. I think many of them are actually surprised about Prop 8 passing. It certainly seems that way.

Whatever leaders we finally get (if we EVER get any) need to be of the Gandhi and MLK mindset though. We have to learn, ourselves, and teach the younger gay people about nonviolence and acting. If ANY of us act haughty or violent on camera, the entire movement will be over. It has to be emphasized that we need to portray nonviolence in our own circles and the aggression of the aggressors, because as of right now, people just don't think we suffer any at all. They keep telling us how good we got it. It's a damn shame, but that's what they think of us.

[davidinalameda]

23. we need a leader period

face it, the GLBT movement is adrift on this big ocean and not heading anywhere fast

[davidinalameda]

22. according to some, we already are nuisances

fuck 'em!

[IndianaGreen]

33. We are a threat to the forest, and we need to be pruned out of existence

saith the Hitlerjundgen Pope.

[Strathos]

31. I completely agree

Please sir, may I have my rights, just ain't workin'. We've tried to be nice, it's time to be ruthless and it's time to stop the bigots from stomping on us. Christ is not an excuse and won't be respected, IMHO.