The above twitter was sent by Dan Choi, one of the leading lgbt activist fighting for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and it has sent shockwaves throughout the lgbt community.
Some, frustrated by the seemingly nonexistent movement on DADT, have defended Choi. Others have called Choi out, saying his post was shrill and totally without thought.
I can't help but be in the latter camp.
That's not to say that I don't respect Choi and all he has done to bring attention to the awful policy of DADT. But unlike some in the community, I don't think that anything which will bring attention to our cause for equality is a good thing.
And I have to ask something which one of my colleagues brought up. Yes Obama needs to have pressure, but what about the rest of Congress? Sen. Carl Levin is talking about removing DADT from the Defense Authorization Bill. Sen. John McCain has been moving the goal posts in terms of what needs to be done for him to not stand against repealing DADT.
In the fight against DADT, there has been too much anger centered on one person (the president) when there
should be more anger and more pressure centered around various others in the Senate.
Furthermore, so many lgbts like to cite the African-American civil rights movement as a standard bearer for what is being done now. But they tend to forget that every march, every speech, every statement put out then was the result of careful thought in terms of how this action will further the cause of equality.
And therein lies my problem with Choi's statement. For the record, I don't think Obama is the worst President ever in any regard. But that's besides the point.
Choi's statement comes across as desperate and shrill. It's less of a statement by a man who is a leader in the cause for equality and more of a statement akin to a child throwing a tantrum.
In the short term, he may be articulating the frustration that many lgbts have, but lgbts articulating rage and frustration are a dime a dozen. A quick look at comments on facebook proves that point.
What we need is intelligent planning, careful strategy, and above all, perserverance in the face of those who will not yield.
Choi's statement does nothing positive for lgbt equality. In fact, it reduces the integrity of our movement and paints us unfairly yet again as a people who are quick with the ugly words but slow with the measured intelligent action.
2 comments:
I love your blog and I agree with you 99.9% of the time. On this one I totally disagree. Dan Choi is a hero, not only to the country in serving in the armed forces, but also to the LGBT community. He has taken the fight for equality directly to the White House in peaceful demonstration. He is correct in that Obama is one of the worst presidents in history. Obama has been fighting the LGBT community at every step of the way on DADT. He could have halted discharges on day one of his presidency under DADT and he refused to issue the stop-loss order to do so. He is not drumming up support for repealing DADT. The repeal legislation now before congress isn't even true repeal. It's watered down garbage that places the decision in the hands of the military who could continue it indefinitely. In the courts his DOJ has appeal the unconstitutional ruling of DADT thus reviving what was already dead. DOMA and ENDA are not even on the agenda. The day Obama let Rick Warren and Donnie McClurken, 2 virulently anti-gay pastors speak during his inauguration festivities, he was sending a signal. Obama is a homophobe. He has never had a plan to fulfill any of his promises. In non-gay issues he has thrown his base under the bus on almost every important issue and has governed right of center. He lost my vote long ago. Bush was bad but Obama is a two-faced liar. Obama IS the worst president ever and Choi was right in pointing that out, because his voice is being heard and the LGBT community needs wake up and hear it. The president is no friend to the LGBT community.
Brad, I stand by what I said and wish to add more to it. Your points are good but the quick use of hyperbole by yourself, choi, and I am sure others is extremely self defeating. U call him the worst president based on warren, dadt and other things. Some may disagree based on his large number of lgbt appointees and his defense of kevin jennings among other things. This leap to judgement blinds us to the fact that historically, presidents have done the right thing on human rights when given the right amount of pressure. What u and choi fail to recognize is the difference between correct political pressure and useless hyperbole.
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