Oh, Bully!

When the HRC wrote about their Dare2Care event to raise awareness and money to fight the bullying epidemic in America's schools, they did a nice job of adapting to new problems within the LGBT community with an attempt to work outside of what they are used to (i.e. marriage equality). Granted, it seems that the bullying fight has simply become the new fad, but I will commend the HRC nonetheless. According to the news release, several local designers contributed fashions for a runway show. Those in attendance included Palestine's first professional drag queen (a could-be news release all of its own). Furthermore, apparently thousands of dollars were raised...for "HRC’s fight for full LGBT equality." Sorry to break it, anti-bullying campaign, but you may have just wasted thousands of dollars which could go toward something truly impactful.

Further, I think this is a prime opportunity to talk about the bullying epidemic. Honestly speaking, the epidemic that is upon us is one of assault and harassment. Until we begin to clearly label this problem as it should be labeled, it will be impossible to create a tactic to overcome the problem. Throwing money at arbitrary organizations (arbitrary in the historical precedent set by the HRC), is not a helpful tactic for anyone.

All of this is a fancy way of saying that the bullying dialogue right now is relying on trusting anyone who says they can fix the problem to have a go at it. However, because bullying is not quantifiable right now, it is an empty promise for any organization who promises they can solve the issue.

Design The Change

On the third of May, the HRC website made the announcement that Marc Jacobs has designed a shirt showing support for the Human Rights Campaign which includes two lesbian mothers, their daughter, and a slogan saying "I pay my taxes, I want my RIGHTS!" to be sold in his stores. The shirt also exclaims Marc Jacobs' support for the HRC.

I like that this happened for a multitude of reasons. Obviously, there is the fact that donning this shirt is an automatic billboard for gay rights. I think that any chance one has to scream their viewpoints and their activism is to be commended. I also like that this slogan doesn't give in to the heteronormative viewpoint- it is abrasive, it makes people uncomfortable, and it encompasses the pissed off thoughts that so many in the LGBT community currently feel. These are feelings and thoughts that NEED a bigger footing in the world; people need to hear these words, and Jacobs has made that a possibility.

I also like the fact that this advertisement/slogan/shirt/mantra/fun time focuses on lesbian (rather than gay male or both gay and lesbian) rights. It seems like everywhere you turn in the gay rights debate you see either gay men fighting for rights, or you see a combination/ dichotomy between gay AND lesbian rights. It is nice to see that lesbian rights have an opportunity, destined by a male designer, to open their own dialogue and to take their rights movement on their own time. Granted, I think that all groups within the LGBT community need to work together, but I think it is also important to make it clear that all identities within this movement have a unique vantage point to be considered.

Regardless of any rhetorical outcomes of this t-shirt design, I think that Marc Jacobs and the HRC should be commended for its design and execution. I hope that it is only one instance of many abrasive t-shirts to come. Loud and proud!

Normal Heart, Cliche Motive

At the end of April, the HRC reported about the Boradway recreation of one of the most important queer plays to ever grace New York. The Normal Heart is a beautiful play about the forcing of the AIDS epidemic into the public consciousness and the ability of the gay community to make it talked about. Growing up queer, this play is one that I remember shaping my identity. It also started to teach me about the history of the Gay community, the impact of AIDS and the difficulty that arose out of the connection between those two things. It is an important and critical play, to say the least.

The power in this sentiment may be a large part of the reason that the HRC's post upsets me at the slightest level. At face value, I was ecstatic when I started reading this post. Again, it is an important play that I think every member of the gay community needs to read and have as a part of their lexicon. When I thought that this post was about the recognition that this piece of drama deserves, my heart got giddy for the Human Rights Campaign.

Then, my normal heart broke. At the end of the post, I realized that this recognition was shrouded in a somewhat shameless plug for HRC funding. Apparently, a portion of every ticked purchased goes to the HRC. Now, don't get me wrong- I think that supporting an important gay cause, and seeing an important work is a fantastic combination. However, it serves as a reminder that the HRC has not promoted many of the other pivotal queer art works in which they do not have a footing. Where is the recognition without reward? This would be a perfectly wonderful post if it were not the first to occur, combined with a pitch for yet more money to be tossed at the HRC.

Finally Rooted In Grass

On April 28th, The HRC wrote a release about an event at the University of Nevada campus, where college students were recruited for the LGBT rights fight. The author of the article explains his excitement about the fact that young people are getting involved with the movement and that they are finally being taught how to take an initiative. Further, and possibly the most exciting part, is that these students are being taught TO take initiative.

It must have become abundantly clear by now that my biggest issue with the HRC is the way that they often fail to incorporate new waves of individuals into the LGBT rights movement, the complacency, the arrogance. However, in this article my faith is somewhat restored. I hope that this is just the first of many of these drives or movements drumming up newer and younger support. It is true that young people like myself are far too often removed from the debate, or only connected in a shallow few feelings. I hope that the HRC keeps pushing this type of message, communicating the need for new support and for activists capable of unique and interesting thought.

Hopefully from this point we will be able to surpass the strides across the age gap. We need to remember that this is not simply a passing of the torch from older activists to younger ones. We cannot afford to lose the activists who have been working so hard for so long. We can not afford to stop recruiting new members who are older in age. Individuals in every walk of life can play a vital role in the shaping of this movement, and I am very excited to see how they can all work together if they begin to work in tandem.

Opposing the Opposition

April 20th was a great day for the marriage equality movement! The HRC blog posted a story briefly detailing the fact that a sister group, "Catholics For Marriage Equality" has not only been formed, but is steadily increasing in numbers of supporters. This type of support has grown recently, according to the HRC website, and on the 20th a phone bank was created and accessed. Catholic supporters called other purveyors of their faith and asked for support in the movement towards equality. Central to the message was gaining increased support for a Catholic Lobby Day which would be run mainly by Rhode Island Catholic supporters of LGBT equality.

This post invigorates me in the best possible way. Finally, it is completely apparent that the HRC is exercising its best judgement in the fight for LGBT equality. By bringing Catholic supporters into the debate, it can become apparent that this "Us vs. Them" dichotomy is somewhat unfounded and silly. In doing this, we are much more able to incorporate all different identities into the movement and show that undermining a LGBT lifestyle is not valid in almost any way. In gaining support from all sorts of subgroups, we can show that EVERYONE from African Americans to the heavily religious to Republicans and so on is a part of a group which has some level of support for LGBT equality. This is a message that the anti-equality movement simply does not have. It is difficult to find a homosexual that will oppose equality (though not specifically marriage equality), but the number of heterosexual supporters OF equality is incredible. This increased awareness is incredible, and will be critical to the success of the ideologies of the HRC and the like.

Further, what I love about this article is the way it takes a very common dislike of the Catholic faith by LGBT supporters and overthrows that hatred as invalid. This is something within the queer community that has always upset me in a huge sort of way. As we are fighting against hatred, it is important to recognize groups where hatred is not universal. Furthermore, we need to remember those groups (i.e. Catholics) that we are often quick to write off and ironically hate ourselves. I love that the HRC is raising awareness about the fact that many Catholics are in support of the LGBT identity, and that they are not the enemy.

Finally the HRC does something incredibly important with this post: they create an availability of involvement and a very feasible way to get involved. Contact information for this Catholic group of supporters is included in the post and people who would like to support the movement are asked to help where they can. By doing this, the HRC counters some of my largest criticism of their organization: they provide the means for change. I will say that I wish the HRC would extend this focus on creating NEW supporters to the supporters they already have. The way things are framed right now, it seems like the HRC is quick to get supporters for a specific vote or instance and then discards them. It is important to access the bank of support they already have and to guide LGBT equality fighters to mobility and significant change. But my pride for the group is still there; baby steps.

Homeward-less-ness Bound

On April 20th, The HRC covered legislation dealing with the fact that Virginia's State Board of Social Services "let its children down." The children in question being homeless children looking for adoption. The decision being discussed is the decision that these children could no longer be adopted by LGBT individuals. Truly a devastating decision for the potential LGBT parents of Virginia and for the reported 1,300 children that will not be taken into these homes.

I am happy to see the HRC take offense to this type of misconduct within the state legislature, and happy that the group has promised to, "...take action to assure that no GLBT person or couple with a loving home to offer a child is denied the right to parent simply because of who they are." Missing from this statement, however, is something that I have come continuously to feel absent from the HRC mission: an explanation of how. Saying that steps will be taken is wonderful, and I am sure that the HRC intends to follow through. However, for the constituency of Virginia, and for supporters of LGBT rights across America these promises leave little more than hope. I, for one, am ready to respond to a rallying cry from the individuals that are showing their support at the Human Rights Campaign. My concern is that they have me (and many others) as an audience with supportive feelings, but little means to give legs to my feelings.

Save Yourself for Marriage...Unless Marriage Is Not Saved For You

In mid-March, the HRC website reports that it is taking on a huge fight that is rather out of its comfort zone. It explains that the HRC offers its "support" (though I am starting to wonder what that support means outside of a pat on the back...digression) to Senators Frank Lautenberg and Barbara Lee who are introducing a bill that will repeal programs in school that offer an abstinence-only sexual education instruction. The HRC explains that it has long opposed these types of programs largely due to the fact that a government telling you to"save yourself for marriage" is highly ironic for LGBT youth who are concurrently told that they are not allowed the marriage that they would be saving themselves for. Amidst these ideas are obvious concerns about HIV and STI transfer when young children are sent into the world without knowledge about how contraceptives are necessary for much morethan avoiding pregnancy, and that pregnancy itself is not the only outcome in sexual intercourse.

What I appreciate so much about this post is that it is one of few posts that do not directly deal with the gay marriage debate. Though it is a central factor in the reasoning of the HRC to not support abstinence-only education, gay marriage is a footnote to the larger focus of the article. While I understand that it can be effective for an activist group to focus its energy onto one issue (i.e. gay marriage), I think that the HRC often looks past certain issues in the gay community and diminishes the entirety of the dialogue to one simply about gay rights. In this mindset, it

can be easy to overlook the cohesive expanse of the movement and all that it can entail. Here, however, the talk about HIV activism and the idea that not all people can wait for marriage is an important one to have.

In the future, it might even be worth mentioning that not all gay Americans are looking for a marriage. There is a large population in the country that are vehemently opposed to the institution in its heteronormative nature and its feeling that a religious institution should have legal footing in America. While marriage EQUALITY is obviously the main aim of the HRC, they might to well to determine ways to incorporate this subset of the homosexual community into the fight for gay rights.

New Work in New York

In an uplifting article from March 8th on the HRC website, it was explained that organizer Dominique Salice is helping to fight the marriage fight in the state of New York over the course of this coming year. The article explains that 40 people came to Patty Ellis to discuss methods of achieving marriage equality in the state. In attendance were a gay couple who wanted the right to marry in the state they live in, and two parents who wanted their gay son to be able to grow up and have the same right to marry the person he loves as they had.

It is encouraging to see one thing in particular; the fact that gay and straight individuals were in attendance is crucial. It is nice to see that the HRC understands the importance of allies in the movement of the greater GLBT movement for equal rights. It seems that at times in the movement it has become easy to ostracize the heterosexual community from the homosexual fight, but it seems that the HRC understands how dangerous something like that could prove to be in the long run. Concurrently, I think it would be nice to see that more than 40 people were being involved in the movement for marriage equality in one of the most populated states in America. However, until I see how the movement turns out, I will just chalk it up to needing a small group to go forth and multiply into a much larger one.

My favorite part of the article was when the HRC included Dominique's contact e-mail and phone number so that people can ask how to get involved. It seems like so many articles on the HRC website are simply informational and lack a sense that they have definite claws to them. However, by giving readers this information, it is clear that this is a fight that someone is willing to go to the streets for. To anyone in New York who is looking to get involved,

there are clear and tangible ways to get that involvement going. Kudos, HRC. Now it is time to involve the other 19 million-or-so citizens in New York. Now it is time to put those boots to the ground.

Standing Up to Capitol Hill

Hooray! The HRC has bared its teeth and shown that it knows how to bite. As this backstory article explains, "the HRC" and 200 equal-rights supporters gathered together on March 7th for a spring lobbying day. The HRC staff and advocates stood up for their rights in the lobby of capitol hill and raised their voices about critical concerns facing the LGBT community. As they explain, these included, "HIV/AIDS Funding, Anti-Bullying legislation, The Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act". Obviously this was a big day for LGBT rights and equality.

One of the most interesting things that I found in the article was the statement that these lobbyists were, "Armed with the knowledge that nearly 90 percent of Americans believe that lesbians and gays should have equal rights in job opportunities..." Now, while I am ECSTATIC with this statistic, I have to wonder where it came from. I know and am so happy that America is becoming increasingly supportive of gay rights and equality. Simultaneously, I have been to many regions of this country of ours, and I have to admit that this statistic seems a bit...emboldened...to even the most staunch gay rights advocate. It worries me that the HRC might be getting all of its statistical data from Greenwich Village street corners, as falsely representing data might give gay rights opponents access to a detrimental opening for attack.

All skeptics aside, it makes me thrilled to see the HRC out in the community working for gay rights. I do think that lobbying is only one facet of the many areas that these seemingly clean-cut gays should be infiltrating, but it is definitely one that deserves significant attention. I am excited and hopeful to see how the lobbying strategies translate into real action and change in the government.

DOMA for Dummies...and nobody else?

When the HRC reported about Bill Donius' article DOMA For Dummies, they brought an important issue to light. Donius writes a very passionate and reasonable article for the Huffington Post and outlines the specific reasons for who DOMA is so dangerous to the GLBT citizens of this country, and to America itself. All of the obvious and harped reasonings are there; civil unions afford 1,100 fewer rights than marriages, married homosexual couples often have to leave their home state in order to actually live their marriage out, Donius even uses a compelling second-person ploy toward the reader.

On the one hand, this article is incredibly noteworthy- it says what we need to be reminded of in a compelling sort of way. On the other hand, that is all that it is: a reminder. These arguments, valid as they are, are not offering anything new for the opposition to need to understand or see. Unfortunately, without new arguments, the gay rights movement becomes little more than a re-hashing of dated ideas. It becomes easy for what I will candidly refer to as "the enemy" to attack the homosexual case if that case is cast in stone.

Even more diluted, I think that the HRC does a wonderful job of giving credence where it is due in this case. Donius wrote a wholehearted article that we cannot diminish. But, by the looks of it, he became a member of the HRC after writing this article. I am starting to wonder where the "grassroots activism" of the HRC mission statement are coming in. Right now I am seeing a reporting service with a gay theme and a substantial amount of money to throw around. Can it be that the HRC has gained such a noble standing in society that they are afraid to create waves if they take too harsh a stand anywhere? Don't get me wrong, I love this organization, but our place at the table has yet to be earned (if, in fact, we choose not to axe the table in half) and the HRC is already dressed in its Sunday finest? Nay, our hands are still begging to be muddied.

Always "All Right"

On February 27, The HRC Published a story about the incorporation of The Kids Are All Right at the Oscars. They outline the ways that Annette Bening was being included as a Best Actress candidate and how important the role was for the GLBT community.

As I read this article I am reminded of my own feelings of the realization that a movie about a gay family was able to take such big strides and show so many of the facets that a gay lifestyle can have. I like that an organization with as much clout as the HRC is able to remind the gay community how lucky we are to have an inclusion that would have been unheard of a few decades ago. At the same time, I wish that the article would have had a bit more of a push toward how much more inclusion and recognition we still need in order to be truly welcomed into society. A movie is an mazing step, but where is the call to action about how sad it is that this movie was noteworthy BECAUSE of its queerness? Where is the anger that Bening's Oscar nod arguably came, in large part, because of the subject matter of her film? Why aren't we focusing on the beautiful acting job that she blessed us with?

Unfortunately, this article is little more than a happy recognition for what is definitely an important film. However, it makes me nervous that this film is being viewed as an arrival, rather than a stepping stone to a world where a gay family in a movie raises no more eyebrows than a heterosexual family does.

Marriage in Maryland

Today, the HRC published a story written by Jason Lott who is a HRC Staff member. Jason begins the article by explaining how he met with Maryland state Senator Victor Ramirez (Pictured Left), and then expounds how the Senator is doing a wonderful job. The brunt of the article, however, focuses on how the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Act" is up for discussion this coming Tuesday and asks for anyone who is free and able to attend the hearing on dates that Jason provides.

I think that this article does two very important and noteworthy things in particular:

Initially, I love how Senator Ramirez is called out in a positive light. I think that far too often, social movements point out only those who are at fault in a given situation and who have caused considerable problems. However, in this case Senator Ramirez is being given a pat on the back for his excellent service. This will hopefully allow the Senator to see that the work he is doing for the gay community is being recognized and appreciated. With this type of recognition, he can see how much his time is worth to the GLTBQ citizens of Maryland and their supporters. The honoring of the Senator also accomplishes a more forward-looking goal as well. In thinking about trying to gain support in the future, the gay community represented by Jason is linking Ramirez to the good that he is doing. Therefore, his continued support is somewhat expected going forward. Should he become less than supportive at some point, it will not go unnoticed. In this way, Jason does a wonderful job of making sure that the Senator will continue to be admired for his good deeds, and called out should he choose to end his support.

Second, the article does the wonderful service of globalizing the virtual activist movement that is housed within HRC.org into a very finite atmosphere. By calling Maryland supporters to this hearing, Jason is filling them in on a possibility they might otherwise not be privy to. In this way, the only way that readers of the article can NOT attend the meeting, is if they CHOOSE not to attend. This puts the audience in a predicament where those excited to mobilize are able to, and those who might be too lazy to partake, are more likely to fall victim to their guilt. Though it may seem a bit unorthodox to force activists into action, I think that with today's increasingly virtualized activism it might be a necessary first step. There is something addictive and fulfilling about activism, and with that initial push, Jason might be gaining future wholehearted supporters.