October is National Equality Month. Sunday on the National Mall, thousands will gather for the National Equality March, promoting the Gay Agenda: equality!
Logo TV is going dark for the march. Thousands of youth from across the nation are traveling in delegations to make it to the march. And the night before the march, President Obama will deliver the keynote speech on gay rights at the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner.
He is expected to detail "incremental progress" on equality. Many believe President Obama hasn't yet earned his Nobel, noting his solid procrastination of fighting Don't Ask Don't Tell, and his less-than-resounding endorsement of ENDA and hate crimes legislation.
Recent outcry in the LGBT community, however, has focused instead on the dismissal of queer people of color in the marriage equality movement. Over at Queerty, Nakhone Keodara details what he perceives to be the systematic devaluing of the experiences of queer people of color in the national equality organizing space, and their underrepresentation even in lists of supporters like this one.
Keodara "quit" the movement, eliciting head-shaking disapproval by some activists. It's possible that the lack of commitment by President Obama, a celebrity of color so popular that "Dreams of my Father" almost beat "The Bible" on the list of books people lie about reading, has influenced the inclusiveness of the movement. But any change in inclusivity must start not with the government, but with marriage equality organizations.
Back in May, the Courage Campaign produced two ads to Regina Spektor's song, "Fidelity."
"FIDELITY" 60-second English version. Transcript:What if we could vote...
to pay you less because of your gender
To deny you medical care because of your age
To deny you housing because of your race
What if we could vote...
To stop you from marrying the person you love
Prop 8 stopped committed couples from marrying
Together we're fighting for equality.
Join the movement to restore marriage equality to California.Here is the 60-second Spanish version, translated:
"Remember when they voted
To deny your children an education for speaking Spanish
To deny you medical care simply because of your legal status
Denying the right to housing for your race
Now they want to vote...
Against equality
To prevent marrying the person you love
Prop 8 eliminated the right of civil marriage for same-sex couples
Together we are fighting again
Join the movement to restore equality of civil marriage in CA."
Changing the delivery of a message is smart voter targeting. Yet, this particular messaging to Latino voters strikes an odd chord. This message could be reduced to, "You know what oppression feels like, so don't oppress other people." The use of "they" creates a wider dichotomy between "us" and "them," but still oversimplifies the experiences of Latino voters, equating tools of oppression used against people of color with those experienced by the LGBT community.
With this awareness, and in the spirit of inclusiveness, I hope that everyone, of every color, will consider marching in DC on Sunday, with the awareness that every individual's experience with oppression is different.
Poet Staceyann Chin has more to say on equality:
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First of all - thanks for the post. It's an important issue that the GLBT rights movement needs to be dealing with.
I guess I wanted to say that I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation of the Courage Campaign commercials. To me, it didn't strike me as equating oppression, but rather appealing to a sense of solidarity among oppressed groups.
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this.
PS - I'm headed to the National Equality March tomorrow morning. So excited!
That was my interpretation, too. It's not saying these types of oppression are the same... it's saying there are some rights that everyone should have, that shouldn't be up for a vote! Just because Prop 8 passed doesn't mean it's a good thing... likewise just as Latin@ folks were and still are denied rights by legal means doesn't mean it's ok.
I don't think, especially since this targeted the Latino community, that it's intended to say that it's the same.
The things mentioned were voted on to pass in many places and were used to target the Latino community. Just like Prop 8 was voted on to target GLBT people and restricted things.
I don't speak Spanish and the true comparison would come with how the grammar is interpreted to Spanish speaking people whether it truly is a comparison or just a parallelism.
Ariel-- totally fucking on target. I co-sign.
I'll be there tomorrow, but just heard from a queer friend of color that there isn't one event planned specifically for LGBTQ folks of color... really not okay. I look forward to marching, but retaining a critical lens at the same time.
Thanks so much for posting this.
Wow-- not a single event? That's shameful. I looked at this event list: http://metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=4563 and there was nothing.