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.