GLAA of DC: An Old Dog That Won't Hunt (esp. for marriage rights)

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA) released results of its survey showing that Gay Marriage in the District of Columbia has overwhelming support of the Mayor and the City Council.

Too bad it doesn't have full support of GLAA. They continue to advise DC's elected officials to sit on their hands and do nothing, fearing a Congressional backlash. I've been harping on this as long as I've been blogging, but I'm glad to see Matt at Malcontent jump on the bandwagon:

Our courageous gay leaders say the overriding fear is that “an ill-timed same-sex marriage bill in D.C. might also prompt Congress to pass a law banning the city from adopting full marriage rights for gays in the future.”

So we’re going to sit on our hands at the back of the bus because of what “might” happen?

Here’s a better idea: Call the Democrats’ bluff. Pass gay marriage in DC, then see what happens. Force the Democratic leadership into the position of letting it stand, overturning it, or even “banning” gay marriage “in the future,” as the wussies at GLAA seem to worry. If these groups have so little faith in Democrats, why do they support them over and over and over? The answer increasingly appears to be that they’re more concerned about consolidating Democrats’ hold on political power than about doing right by gays.

It's actually obvious what is happening -- none of the Democratic bosses -- least of all Hillary Clinton -- wants to tackle such an issue, not now, maybe not ever. The folks at GLAA are more or less lobbyists, and like lobbyists everywhere, they are in the business of keeping those they lobby happy. The problem is -- the interests or the Democratic Party and the interests of the gay community are not one and the same but GLAA is treating them like they are.

It's an unhappy standoff -- the gay establishment doesn't want to make their friends in the Democratic Party uncomfortable and the Democratic establishment doesn't feel it needs to carry water for it's gay constituents because, after all, where else are we going to go?

Bull dogs, water hoses, and hell, bullets, bombs and the lynch mob's noose faced the freedom fighters of 1960s. And our leaders are afraid of....Congress? Martin Luther King and the others didn't wait until that perfect time when we could resolve our race problems over a nice cup of tea. They acted.

And so should we. When has sitting passively on butt doing nothing brought about social change? To do so is to cease to be a civil rights movement. It means we have become passive spectators to our own cause, watching from the sidelines hoping the world will change itself.