Harvey Milk, Prop8 and us
We went to see the film MILK last night. As has been noted by many others, how we wish this film had been released last summer, or the fall before the election. Even so it gives us important lessons and ruminations about Milk the man, our community, and our ongoing struggle.
The GLBT community has a memory problem; how many GLBT outside of those of us in California knew who Harvey Milk was, before this film? Every civil rights struggle has a leader who is remembered: Susan B Anthony and the women's suffrage movement; Caesar Chavez and the migrant farmworkers; and of course the great Dr King and the epic struggle for black equality. Yet we have forgotten Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major public office in the US. And, as they say, those who forget history are destined to repeat it.
In 1978, the Briggs Initiative (proposition 6) was all too familiar: an unholy alliance of out-of-state interests (Anita Bryant), Christian conservatives, and opposition to gay rights. The Briggs Initiative would have banned gay teachers and those who spoke to support them from teaching in California's public schools. This Draconian measure was leading in the polls, horrifying though it was.
The liberal establishment, though opposed to Briggs, wanted to play a safe campaign based on "privacy" and "equality," with no actual gay people. (Sound familiar?) Harvey Milk saw this as a disaster, and insisted that the gay folks be front and center and OUT in the campaign. Against the odds, the Briggs Initiative went down, as described in the film. Oh, if only it had released sooner! The parallels are so striking.
But thirty years later, all those lessons were forgotten with Proposition 8. The establishment "No on 8" campaign played it safe; "tolerance" and "equality" but no actual gay people. And we lost, despite our initial lead.
We all know that the campaign made bad decisions, stupid in hindsight. But we have to also acknowledge OUR role in this. WE failed too. We fell into the comfortable zone where we simply wrote the checks and let others do the work. I know my wife and I did not walk our neighborhood, despite knowing that many people were friendly. But there were some "Yes on 8" stickers. Middle class lesbians who "pass," we were afraid that we, our kids, or our house would become targets of hate
There was no Harvey Milk exhorting us, insisting that we had to fling open the door, that we had to demand our rights and not let others do the work for us, that it would be so much harder for them to vote against us if they knew just one of us. We have no Harvey Milk. No leader has stepped forward to fill his shoes in the last thirty years, and as a result, the movement is sporadic, divided.
So we must each BE Harvey Milk ourselves, and consciously think, "what would Harvey do?" to keep our momentum in the post-Prop8 world. All of us own this responsibility. If we don't do it for ourselves, each GLBT person, we can't expect our straight friends and allies to join us. We must participate in the marches and the elections and the outreach and the grassroots. It's what he would have insisted we do.
"My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you!"
Cross posted at DailyKos and at Friends of Jake
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I'm straight, I have gay family members. Because it is their question, it is my question.
What I see as important here is that there are a lot of people "in the middle" on this, who simply do not see it as their question. How can they be brought in?
January 18, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This activism is doomed to backfire. Many people who have children in school are unaware teachers are not already vetted for these 'differences'. I estimate 80% will be appalled when they learn their children are already being exposed to these kinds of people.
Equating this 'struggle' with past suffrage movements is apples and oranges. The more publicity this one gets, the more sentiments against it will solidify. We're talking about what people's children are exposed to. Most likely outcome is that a lot of otherwise innocent teachers will loose their jobs when all's said and done.
January 18, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't even really bother to read it, did you? But you couldn't resist stopping by to spew your mindless opposition to people simply having the same basic rights as you.
Epic fail.
January 18, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign!
January 18, 2009 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course I read it. En Toto. When's the test?
January 18, 2009 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dewd. It must be so lonely in your world. No wonder you're here all the time.
January 18, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice routine you got going, Spric/Gene Stafford. Drop on some threads & appear all bewildered... complain if anyone uses a swear word against you... the poor, put upon, little guy.
But then, out it comes... "These people." "Differences." "What" children are exposed to. "Homeaux." Elsewhere, you've shown your views on Blacks & Yankees & Liberals. Pretty soon there'll be no one left in the country but poor, put-upon Gene.
I (like you, I believe) was raised fundamentalist Baptist. Came from a farm, loads of work & lots of brawling & country life & the men trooping off to war. It's not really relevant to why you're attacking people, but just to say... you don't have to. It's a waste of your time, and your life.
And it makes other people's lives harder. Is that what you're after? I hope not.
January 18, 2009 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
If some people so much as belch, they're accused of being bigoted, racist, and hate.
There's not a single word in my statement which attacks or belittles anyone. I read that fine print and the subject is homosexual activism. Why, pray tell, should I be denounced for such benign observation and productive contribution?
January 18, 2009 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps you'd like to clarify then:
1. What "differences"? Homosexuality? Support for Gay Rights? Do tell.
2. "These kinds of people." Again, which kinds?
January 18, 2009 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
You suck at estimation, too.
January 18, 2009 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spric...you are scary..."these kinds of people..."
My name is Harvey Milk...
rec'd IT...
January 19, 2009 1:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I had an English teacher in high school who I learned years later was gay. He turned me on to Voltaire's Candide which I thought was pretty cool. He also tried to get me to read the Bhagavad Gita but I didn't care for it much. I was into exploring the weirder aspects of human society but wasn't much into Gods. He was a pretty good teacher happy to engage students' minds though I think he found few takers in our suburban high school in the 1970s.
January 19, 2009 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I recommended this post IT; I despise the lone dissenter here, but fix the damn print for squinty older men, willya?
January 18, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Dickday, I pushed up the font size, hope that helps
January 18, 2009 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thoughtful post, IT. What you say is true. Leaders are needed...one person to step forward and carry the fight on their shoulders. In the absence of that, the fight must be shared.
Like The Old Grouch in the top comment, I too have gay family members. (I reckon the notion of a gay Native American never entered most folks minds. Surprise!) So, your fight is mine as well.
January 18, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rec'd.
Good piece, IT. My name is Harvey Milk.
Works for me.
January 18, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
YIKES! sorry, quinn...stole your line w/o meaning to! Great minds? (don't I wish!)
January 19, 2009 1:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
glad you folks like it.
If you haven't seen Milk, see it. It's an important film, and very moving. I grew up in the Bay Area and remember these events vividly. The news footage took me right back there.
As for the troll, why don't you just ignore it? It feeds on attention and nothing you say will change its mind. I think it's great that you guys try to engage, but save your energy to engage with those who are willing to listen.
January 18, 2009 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Other things have been spewed, IT. Against blacks for example. Even justifying the murder of Dr. King. It's not just you - it's been all over the board for a few days now, getting "schooled" by many - to no avail - unless management decides to ban.
January 19, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I too have straight and gay family and friends. And friends and acquaintances from across the spectrum of humanity. We respect and love one another most of the time, being human and all. It seems like we all might have better things to do in our very short lives than fear people who are in some aspect different.
I hope you will continue your posts.
January 19, 2009 1:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree we need another charismatic LGBT leader to help promote equality and equal protection under the law. If we manage to find one, lets not marginalize and forget him next time, eh?
BTW, The mistake I saw in the opposition to Prop 8 was that the battle was being fought on social and religious grounds. That's a losing battle every time. The way to defeat Prop 8 was to argue it as a Constitutional equal protection issue. As soon as you make it about lifestyle or belief, you are going up against emotion not reason.
January 19, 2009 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, folks. The points you raise here:
1) Commonality of experience (str8s with gay family and friends)
2) separation of church and state (civil marriage, not religious holy matrimony)
3) live and let live
are all true. Our kids don't understnad why this is an issue; it will die eventually. In the meantime, we need to find ways to reach across boundaries and find that common experience. The trolls remind us of how far to go...
January 19, 2009 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink