To me, it all has to do with misplaced priorities and our inability to channel our anger in the right direction.
No matter how it comes across, a national march is going to boil down to a huge group of us holding signs with useless catchy slogans, chanting, and then afterwards going back to our own communities (who many of us do not support as we should) without a clue as to our next course of action except for to group ourselves in our prospective cliques.
A national march will provide excellent photo ops (for us and the religious right) and evoke nostalgic memories of Stonewall, Queer Nation, and Act-Up but it will not address our present standing in the fabric of this country nor will it give us a plan for the future.
All it will do is show how angry we are.
Well I have news for everyone.
America knows that we are angry. America knows it because we have been telling it for the past 30 plus years. And now America is yawning because yet again we are planning to tell it.
A national march is a fast food solution to our problems. It will not:
give us new ways to combat ignorance and homophobia in our prospective communities,
educate gays, lesbians, and bisexuals on the needs of our transgender brothers and sisters and vice versa,
teach us to respect the generational, racial, cultural, social, and economic differences in the lgbt community.
address the fact that the lgbt community is evolving at a fast rate and past actions we took part in as "outsiders" will probably not apply now.
And lastly, I do not support the idea of a national march because I don't think it is being held for us. I see it as glorified street theatre for the bored.
And, to coin an old phrase, there lies the rub.
I don't want to use my anger at how I'm treated as a gay man as a performance piece. I want to harness it. I want to use it to make the world better for, if not myself, other lgbts.
Carrying signs and shouting slogans for the benefit of President Obama (but definitely not Congress because they won't be in session), the folks at home, or whoever may be watching television just isn't going to cut it for me.
I want something more substantial than a trip to Washington where I will be marching for a couple of hours.
My anger as a gay man, my love for my ENTIRE lgbt community, and my concern for its future (especially the future of our lgbt children) needs something more edifying and solution-oriented than just a day trip to Washington where I will mingle with other like-minded angry folks.
And frankly, until I see signs that a national march will provide this, I am going to do what I have been doing before this national march idea came about - stay home and support my lgbt community in my own way whether it be volunteering at the local center, attending fundraisers, writing on my blog, or talking one-on-one to those questioning their orientation.
It's not as glamorous as a national march in Washington, but right now, it's definitely more rewarding.
3 comments:
I'm with you. Though if people want to march, I say "knock yourselves out" - but I'm most concerned that the march takes place during Congress's October recess. No lawmakers will even be in town to see it! Let alone having people drop in at their legislators' offices to lobby them in person, always an effective component of any successful march.
Aside from the symbolism of having the march on National Coming Out Day (does anyone in the straight community even know or care when National Coming Out Day is?), is there any other reason to schedule a march when there's nobody home?
It's a non-event. Now there is an investigation about the use of funds. Spend your money locally.
Hey anonymous. Give me more information about this investigation.
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