Time to march for LGBT rights

September 9, 2009

MARK SNYDER of QueerToday.com asks "Why the National Equality March?" pointing to the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) recent endorsement of the march, the lack of a day dedicated to HIV/AIDS issues, and the fact that "the resources that support the infrastructure of" the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community are incredibly drained.

I appreciate that Snyder is raising these issues, because I believe they illustrate why it is so important to go all out to mobilize people to go to Washington, D.C., for the October 11 march.

The first point to make is that, in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, there has been a significant resurgence of activism around LGBT rights--from protests to civil disobedience to the formation of new grassroots organizations, often organized by, and including, thousands of people who have never engaged in activism before.

As socialists and leftists, we should be supportive of this and get involved, which we have done and are doing by organizing for the National Equality March (NEM). The NEM, which is being built by many of the people and organizations drawn in by this resurgence, is a fantastic opportunity to bring these new forces together to demand civil equality, get a sense of our numbers and strength, draw new people in, and make new connections to strengthen already existing and build new grassroots organizations in our local communities to continue the struggle on October 12 and beyond.

We are not simply organizing to protest, but protesting to organize, using the march to get more people involved in the struggle for LGBT civil rights and LGBT liberation.

Snyder is right to point out, if I am correct in assuming that he means funds available for political organizing and social, health and community services, that the resources that form the infrastructure of the LGBT community are drained.

That's all the more reason to put what resources we can muster into getting more people and organizations together, and building a movement that can put significant pressure on Obama and Congress to force them to pass reforms granting not just civil equality but also demanding funding for services that would benefit the LGBT community (and beyond).

And if you look at the list of endorsements on the NEM Web site, you'll notice that it has brought together a diverse array of organizations that represent a broad range of oppressed and exploited people (labor, immigrants, LGBT, African Americans, etc.). This march is a positive step in the direction of the formation of the broad left that is necessary to build the infrastructure and develop the resources we need to win the changes our communities desperately need, changes qualitatively beyond those we can make by being conservative hoarding the few resources we have now.

Third, it's important to make a statement on the national level, to put pressure on the Obama for his inaction on LGBT issues and to raise awareness of the true extent of civil inequality that LGBT people face in this country.

For example, many people I've been talking with about the march were not aware, and were outraged to find out, that employment discrimination against LGBT people is still legal in most states. Eighty-nine percent of U.S. residents oppose such discrimination, so the contradiction between that and the laws on the books in states across the country represents the potential for a mass movement. If even a fraction of these people become involved in the struggle for equality, that's still millions of people--a leap forward from where we are today.

Finally, the HRC has recently endorsed the march. I think that the HRC leadership realizes that this march has real potential, because it represents the desires (for uncompromising, full civil equality now) of millions of people, including HRC supporters. HRC has said that they want the marchers to go back to their communities and become citizen lobbyists.

I think that a better strategy for winning LGBT rights is to become grassroots activists, independent of the Democratic Party, and to link this struggle to those of all the oppressed and exploited. But I will still march with HRC to demand full civil equality for LGBT people, while maintaining my political independence and expressing my views. In fact, I think it's vital that I and other socialists be there, so that our politics get a hearing, not just those advocating support for and working with the Democratic Party.

Thousands of people, many of them new to activism and open to different ideas on how to achieve equality for LGBT people and beyond, will be marching on Washington, D.C., on October 11.

It is up to us to be there, to be vocal about what we think it will take to win the change we really need and, as Harvey Milk was fond of saying, to recruit them to our movement.

I hope to see you in D.C. this October!
Gary Lapon, Northampton, Mass.

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