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National March on Washington

My fellow blogger, Matt Algren, has written an excellent post expressing why the National March on Washington is crucial. I’ve expressed a differing opinion, and yesterday posted about how some national organizations are not supporting the event, even though they won’t work against it. But I wanted to address Matt’s points directly, because I think we (those who support the march  and those who do not support it) are not necessarily asking the right questions.  Matt writes:

Many people, myself included, weren’t politically active until last November when we were shocked to attention. The energy created then is now collecting dust while we all wait for congress or the president or whoever else to actually DO something. All we’re hearing from our supposed leaders, with due respect, is to wait a little longer, to be patient.

That attitude was necessary during the Bush years, but we don’t need it anymore. We have a majority in congress and in the White House, and an increasingly supportive generation that is begging to help us. There has never been a better time to push forward relentlessly, and our window of opportunity is closing quickly.

First of all, we need new blood coming into the activism community, and with out a doubt, last November’s surprise brought many people like Matt to the table. And we need each and every one of those folks! But here is where I think we are asking the wrong question. It isn’t whether we should wait or expect our elected officials to act now- that is not the question we should be asking. The more appropriate question is to ask, how can we actively participate in changing how our government functions so that we get our needs met? Let me highlight a bit more of Matt’s post, and then I’ll explain some of my thoughts a bit further. Here are the reasons for the March as he sees it:

1. It tells our governmental leaders that the time is NOW, that we won’t be patted on the head and then ignored for another five or ten years.
2. It tells our LGBT leaders to get on board or get out of the way. No more waiting politely for someone to decide we’re worth the political cost.
3. Most importantly, it infuses a new generation with the confidence of those who have been fighting for years. This generational passing-down of values and ideas is so much more difficult in the LGBT community because we don’t have the automatic mechanism of familial generations. We have to make a much more concerted effort than our straight counterparts.

These all sound very good as rhetoric and theory, but what is missing is any notion of how a March will in and of itself change things.We can tell our leaders, but is that enough? I don’t think so. We need ways for that voice to turn into action. I don’t believe anyone has been ignoring us. I think there has not been the degree of progress we want or need, but since my first March in 1987 I think we have seen and experienced progress. I think the lack of more progress, isn’t about being ignored however. I think it is a matter of a lack of guts on the part of politicians to take bold actions out of fear of the potential repercussions, and after having been to 3 marches, I don’t have much faith that another march will change that. In fact, looking at the ongoing Health Care fiasco, suggest to me that progressives have less guts now than they have had for some time.

The problem I have with #2 is that I wonder who are these leaders and will they be listening? I’ll be the first to say that I am not confidant that groups like HRC always act as aggressively for the GLBTQ communities. For example it is fairly well understood that the HRC worked a deal with the Obama administration to take DADT off the table in exchange for bringing Inclusive ENDA up. I want to know why it was one or the other instead of demanding both? But one reality is that money talks in Washington far more than the crowd’s roar. So, I would like to see something that suggest any GLBTQ “leaders” will be impacted by a march.

#3 is the most intriguing and most difficult to speak to. On one level, I really get the desire to go and stand in a large crowd, there in the nation’s capitol and speak with one voice, calling for change. My experience of 1987 is still vivid in my mind, and had a lasting impact upon my life. Back then, we seemed to go to Washington often, and then we took a break for a while, and the last March, I remember turning out to be a major loss of money.

• 1987 2nd National March on Washington
• 1988 2nd National display of the Names Project Quilt
• 1989 3rd National Display of the Names Project Quilt
• 1993  3rd National March on Washington
• 1998  4th National Quilt display
• 2000 Millennium March on Washington

I can’t imagine taking that experience away from a new generation of activist, but I also can’t see how having the experience is enough to warrant it when there is so much at stake this year. With the election in Maine less than a month afterwards, it seems irresponsible to pull anyone away from that important work.

Although I don’t really understand the notion of why gays and lesbians are at a disadvantage due to no automatic familial generations. In this comment, I hear a desire for greater sense of connectedness inter-generationally, but I’m not sure that the lack of it is because of being straight. Historically, older gay men have never been honored with in queer culture.

But I also think the issues appear quite different today than they ever did in 1987 or 1992 or even at the last march. On one level equality is equality, but today, more than ever before, we know that equality is important for all Americans, and to achieve it, we need everyone gay, straight or in between working together to end discrimination. This would be a very powerful March is we were 2 million strong with straights and gays- everyone demanding equality for all! That would be a March!

One of the biggest issues bothering me about the planned March, is that our elected officials won’t even be in DC! We are marching and giving voice to our position and no one will be listening, except ourselves. When someone can explain to me in a reasonable fashion how that will accomplish the goals of the March, I will consider attending. Otherwise, I hope those attending find what they are looking for, but it won’t be real change in Washington.