Queer Rising Focus on the President Could Kill Marriage Equality in New York

in Activism / general / Same-Sex Marriage — by — June 21, 2011
Update: I should have been more clear in writing this- my point was to talk about Queer Rising in NY, not more generally than that.

I wrote this to post to the Queer Rising group on Facebook, but I decided to post it here as well:

It is mystifying to me that at least here on Facebook, Queer Rising’s focus appears to be trained on the President while the Republican controlled New York Senate is still up for grabs when it comes to Marriage Equality. What is the thinking here? If the President comes out for Marriage Equality, they will pick up that last needed Republican vote? Or the single event of getting  the President on board will be enough to counter the work NOM is doing to scare New Yorkers to call the Senators and oppose Equality? Or is the thinking that Marriage Equality is a done deal in NY?

At a time that 110% should be focused on the New York Senate, you are wasting any time or energy on the President. Don’t you realize what’s at stake here. A loss for NOM could truly weaken them, but if they win, it will be the entire country that suffers, not only New York same sex couples.
Having the President come out forMarriage Equality won’t have any direct effect on the lives of same-sex couples. It won’t make Federal legislation change any quicker, not will it affect State legislation in New York, or elsewhere. It is fighting a battle where a win does little to help the broader war for Equality. To truly help same-sex couples everywhere, we need to assure that New York passes Marriage Equality. This will weaken NOM’s credibility, and encourage many other states to fight for Equality too. Federal DOMA is on the way toward extinction. With more wins in states, we will see progress, no matter what or when the President says anything about Marriage Equality.

4 Comments

  1. Nelson G says:
    June 22, 2011 at 12:50 am

    Between you and me – ahem – there do seem to be activists here who are somewhat skewered in their activism or fight for marriage equality and there have been concerns by me and others that we’ve become so desperate for marriage equality to become, at long last, a reality, we’re willing to throw the baby out with the bath water to make it happen.

    • Anonymous says:
      June 22, 2011 at 3:24 pm

      Thanks for the comment Nelson! I agree that it is complicated, and your image of the baby and the bath water is a good one. For the longest time, I was pretty opposed to working hard on Marriage Equality, at least here in Pennsylvania. I felt that without basic non-discrimination protections, why should we be pushing for Marriage? I also felt that the push for Marriage could leave parts of our rainbow coalition out in the cold. Consider for example, that Canada has had Marriage Equality for 10 years, and the Trans community there is still fighting for basic rights. Today, I feel a bit differently. Marriage is the easy to see issue that captures the public’s attention, ad those who are fighting Marriage Equality are also the same ones fighting all LGBT Rights, and Women’s Rights, and Union/worker rights, and … you get the picture. so battling for Marriage is also a battle for LGBT Rights in the bigger scheme of things, because if these haters gain ground in Marriage, it also means we lose ground in the fight for any LGBT Rights.

  2. Anonymous says:
    June 21, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    full disclosure, i have participated in several actions produced by queer rising and totally support their bravery and courage in their ongoing quest for full equality for all lgbt citizens.  having written that, i would be most concerned if what  you wrote is true because I don’t support those with a republican agenda and i would have to reconsider future actions with them.