Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.
The only way I know to work my way toward an informed way to do my own thinking includes paying attention to context and connections. If I don’t see the ways, for example, the LGBT equality movement and the Occupy movement and the Two Corporate Party Electeds are all interrelated, something’s missing from my thinking.
A specific example of what I’m talking about: the connections between protests at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and an Obama campaign fundraiser.
At the CPAC gathering in DC, Occupiers, union members and more protested at the site of the convention, the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel. Salon described it as “two Americas clashing.”
The OWS Twitter feed included this:
‘Occupy Wall Street is irrelevant’ says the #CPAC Tea Party panel who just spent an hour talking about them.
I keep hearing TParty ppl claiming #OWS signs printed by unions. Ha!
#CPAC speaker claiming #OWS is un-American because they are protesting against the law. Um, just like American founding fathers.
Reporting on something that’s become almost normal, Mediaite, “DC Police Threaten And Detain Reporters At CPAC Occupy Protest.”
From the Salon article:
As (the several hundred protestors) were turned back by police and hotel security, conference participants watched, often with disdain.
‘Get a job,’ shouted one conservative. ‘I’ve got a job,’ one long-haired demonstrator fired back. ‘I’m a farmer. I grow the food you eat.’ The demonstrators, responding to an email message from the D.C. Metropolitan AFL-CIO Labor Council, came from a wide range of unions including the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and the Sheet Metal Workers Union. They marched with members from the Fight for Philly community group, the New York Committee for Change, and veterans of the two now-evicted Occupy D.C. sites.
About the Obama campaign fundraiser in DC, via Keen News:
About 40 gay and lesbian supporters of President Obama’s re-election raised almost $1.5 million at a private fundraiser in Washington, D.C., Thursday night (February 9).
You can read a “snapshot portrait,” as seen by the Federal Election Commission, of the donors via Petrelis Files. See a transcript of Obama’s speech at America Blog Gay. And for some thoughts and analysis, see John Aravosis’ What gay leaders should have said after last night’s $1.4m Obama fundraiser.
Chris Geidner’s High-Dollar Dem Donors Talk With Obama, Celebrating LGBT Successes But Looking for More includes comments from several of the attendees. He got most after the event; the media wasn’t allowed to stay during the Q & A segment.
Laura Ricketts, the first openly LGBT owner of a major-league baseball team … introduced the president … , telling the group that the night was ‘to show the president that the LGBT community stands strongly behind his re-election.’
From everything I’ve read, that about sums up the attitude of attendees. There was no “ask,” no pressure; the recent Prop 8 decision wasn’t mentioned. That doesn’t mean those who could afford the reported $35,800-per-person donation don’t want more. But the attitude and the vision from the, if not at the 1% level definitely at the Insider level, is very different from that of the huge majority of us. Some of the best non-Insider LGBT advocacy being done now, in my opinion, is by GetEqual. Joe Sudbay has several pieces up about the fundraiser that are well worth reading. This one from earlier today:
GetEQUAL’s back story on the $1.4m Obama LGBT fundraiser
Note from Joe: Heather Cronk is the managing director of GetEQUAL and has recounted, below, the ‘back story’ behind Thursday night’s $1.4 million Obama LGBT fundraiser. …
By telling the backstory about what happened with the Obama LGBT fundraiser this week, GetEQUAL will likely continue to be black-listed among the donor community. Given what we know about how things roll, the people who work for some of those donors who attended the high dollar event will likely do everything possible to ensure the group doesn’t get any resources at all. So if you appreciate this post, head over to www.getequal.org/donate and show them some love.
Cronk’s backstory needs to be read in full, though I’ll provide a snippet below. First, this Insider fundraiser is clearly connected with Occupy / 99% and with the political / governance system that dominates our lives. CPAC has the same kind of connections. Not that all or even most of the attendees are likely in a “bracket” that allows them to donate $35,000+, but the same Two Party Electeds – beholden to Elites and telling us what we should think – are playing their role, and assuming they can assign us ours.
From Cronk:
For those who don’t understand our role in the movement, let me be clear – our role is to always, relentlessly advocate for full equality on behalf of the LGBT community, no matter how inconvenient it may seem or feel to others, and no matter what election season we are in or what other crises we may be facing.
That attitude, and the actions to back it up, do not make GetEqual popular with many LGBT Insiders. It’s the kind of peaceful but “inconvenient” actions that most Occupiers / 99%-ers advocate. And the context and connections for understanding both GetEqual and Occupy includes the fact that they aren’t willing to allow Insiders to tell them what and how they “should” think or act. It’s about making connections, looking at context, thinking for ourselves.
( Uncle Sam poster via Occupii
GetEqual Log via GetEqual )
‘Occupy Wall Street is irrelevant’ says the #CPAC Tea Party panel who just spent an hour talking about them.
Love it… though the farmer’s answer was right up there.
Great stuff as always… sharing.
As a middle-aged heterosexual white guy, I had to shake my head at folks railing against being ruled by middle-aged heterosexual white guys, as if not being in that condition would make such a difference. If you put the people at this banquet in the place of those middle-aged heterosexual white guys, you might get a repeal of DOMA, but you certainly won’t get much else.
In fact, though, I don’t even think you’d get a repeal of DOMA. People who can afford to blow $35k on a plate of rubber chicken don’t need marriage for most of the reasons most people do. They’re financially secure already, and they can pay for folks to represent them when they can’t help themselves. Without irresistable pressure, they, too, would probably be telling us how it was just too soon to change something that fundamental.
Repeal of DOMA doesn’t mean squat to me personally. Repeal it or not, nothing about my life would change, nor any of the folks I really care about. One or two might be able to get married if they found someone they wanted to marry, but neither I nor they are affected at the moment. I favor it because it’s better for society generally, and because those acquaintances should have the option of marrying if they choose. Making society fairer is something that benefits us all.
So, did all these rich LGBT people castigate Obama for his unconditional support for the banks at the expense of the rest of society? Did they mention his relentless violation of the Constitution in his efforts to “protect” us from terrorism? Not a chance. It’s too big a change to talk about right now, I’m sure. Nor are these things that affect them personally, I’m equally sure.
I’m all for making our government more representative. Unfortunately, that means a lot more than just changing the complexion or genitalia of our politicians. It’s going to take progressives realizing that we can’t just support politicians blindly, or supporting them because our own narrow interests are somewhat satisfied, but everyone else is worse off.
As a guy who didn’t look anything like me and lived a life nothing remotely like mine once said:
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Not too long ago, someone suggested here that it sullied Martin Luther King Day to mention that one of Dr. King’s most important effects was the effect he had on the opinion of President Kennedy. Of course, there were all those complaints earlier about how racist it was of President Clinton to say that one of the important things to help the civil rights movement was President Lyndon Johnson getting the Civil Rights Act passed. But the plain truth is, without the civil rights movement making a demand, and those demands meeting a sympathetic ear in those two white dudes, far less would have changed.
So it drives me crazy to read things like this. It’s as though today’s progressives will never learn the most basic lessons, which is that we’re a lot stronger together, and we need to demand what we need together. As long as we’re not going to do that, we might as well leave the middle-aged heterosexual white guys in charge. Heck, we’re used to the place, and at least we won’t get lost in traffic so much.
I love this, Cujo, from the fact that the “option” should be there to marry, to your analysis in general.
And this — “we can’t just support politicians blindly, or supporting them because our own narrow interests are somewhat satisfied, but everyone else is worse off” — just about made me stand up and cheer.
Nothing about the fundraiser surprised me, but it does still manage to disappoint me. Again. Of course, I have no idea how much access $35,800 buys. Maybe just enough to thank in person.
Cujo359, that was wonderful to read.