Some people are mad that the HRC is planning an inaugural ball ("We should be marching instead of dancing") but I say let's take it further and urge everyone not to go. Why?
Well, setting aside for a second that HRC is an ineffective civil rights organization (it is) that doesn't deserve your donations (it doesn't), attending won't do us any good. Oh, the pictures will look fabulous in the Washington Blade and Metro Weekly (we clean up well). But if we stick to business as usual (love those Dems, let's all get together and give them our money and votes!!) we get what we've gotten, which is the shaft. What good will it do to ghetto-ize our participation at the Obama inaugural?
Instead, yes -- go celebrate Obama. But go to other inaugural balls and events. Wear your "No on H8" button. Take your partner or boy or girlfriend. Hold hands. Kiss and dance. Talk to people. Let them know you expect Obama to deliver on his promises to our community. Getting a Democrat into the White House wasn't the goal...repealing DOMA and DADT is. Let people know we are watching.
And to be fair, there are other organizations participating in the HRC Ball, ones that are worthy of your contributions. So contribute to them directly and skip the wasteful masturbatory HRC extravaganza.
Here's a list of inaugural events you can chose from. Why isolate ourselves when we don't have to?
8 comments:
That's a good idea. Going to the HRC ball just perpetuates our ghettoization.
The other day somebody pointed out to me that throwing money at HRC absolves you of having to show up in the street or at a protest, sort of perpetuating closetedness.
thats the equivalent of saying I shouldnt visit Munich, because of what Hitler did during his tenure.
please, another loud mouthed radical, wanting to just tip the boat once again, just to speak his mind in the wrong direction.
Well, if anyone wants to go so they can protest while listening to Lauper, Wainwright, Houston, Etheridge, Catie Curtis, Koz, an dothers, then the link is: http://www.hrc.org/11733.htm
Get over it. HRC (and the community in general) now has the best chance of getting something done that they have for the past decade. Protests are fine but demonstrating on the streets of San Francisco or West Hollywood is really what "ghettotizes" the community. The event is also sponsored by the Victory Fund, GLAAD, NGLCC and many others. Should be a really fun chance for our community to actually come together and celebrate what's possible.
I'll be happy to dance with HRC when they actually achieve something worth celebrating. Right now the only thing they've succeeded at is separating our community from its money.
My issue is that our leaders act like a Democratic victory is automatically a gay victory. It is not: Clinton gave us DOMA and DADT.
Grassroots activism works better than highbrow fundraising that goes to CEO salaries. HRC has yet to impress me. They have endorsed some humdingers in the past (Giuliani) and I don't feel they represent me. I agree with Scott and feel we should crash the other balls and turn it out. If the HRC ball can attract Obama so he can make a statement about Equality on national TV, well that will be great. I have yet to see him at the Equality ball and I'm not staying up until 2AM. If Obama really wanted to make a positive statement about equality for all, he would have been to the Equality ball early on and would have made sure Gene Robinson's religious utterings were on primetime as well.
Frank H. Jump
Fading Ad Blog
um. it wasn't an "HRC" ball. it was hosted by about 15 organizations and HRC was one of them.
Did Obama ever make it to the equality ball?
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