Yeah, its early….but sometimes we have to sacrifice for equality.(6am-8am).

Outside the Washington Hilton
1919 Connecticut Ave., N.W.

On the morning of February 3, Get Equal will gather on the sidewalk outside the National Prayer Breakfast to educate the breakfast  attendees on “The Family’s” role in this annual event, to stand up to their bigotry, and to stop the Family’s interference in Uganda, which itself has been called a trial run for what they want to happen in the U.S.

(Weekly Column)

I’ve always maintained that the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell defeat in 2003 was actually a huge public relations victory for the LGBT community. Prior to this debate, the media largely avoided the topic of gay rights – other than the occasional daytime talk circus, dying AIDS victims, or skewed gay pride images on the nightly news.

The massive coverage of the “Gays in the Military” issue blew the hinges off the closet door for good. The media was finally able to discuss the LGBT community, offering a more accurate and nuanced portrayal of the multifaceted human beings they were covering. Unforgettable LGBT heroes emerged, such as top gun pilot Tracy Thorne and Bronze Star recipient Col. Grethe Cammermeyer.

Yesterday’s filibuster in the Senate brings me no such feeling of progress and simply leaves me cold. Unlike 1993, the vast majority of the American people support ending the heinous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. It is widely recognized that ending the careers of more than 13,000 gay service members is bad policy and that kicking out Arabic interpreters because of their sexual orientation weakens national security.

Yet, when the final count was taken, Democrats Blanche L. Lincoln and Mark Pryor joined all 40 Republicans in filibustering the National Defense Appropriations Act, which contained a provision ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

I certainly can’t blame the LGBT community for this defeat. Years of hard work paid off in moving the polls in favor this once controversial issue. The lead-up to the vote included a tremendous direct action campaign by the new organization Get Equal. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Servicemembers United were effective in getting out the appropriate spokespeople to discuss how the current policy harms America’s military.

Today’s LGBT military heroes, most notably Dan Choi, were simply incredible in this fight and made us all very proud. And, Lady GaGa was brilliant, bringing much-needed star power to focus the nation’s attention on this week’s vote.

Victory was elusive because of the radicalization of the Republican Party and the Democrat Party’s continuing inability to wholeheartedly support issues that it supposedly believes in.

The LGBT movement is this generation’s great human rights battle and should have been treated as such. In the day’s leading up to the vote, the White House should have been furiously lobbying and twisting arms to ensure victory. On the big day, President Barack Obama should have had a high-profile breakfast with Dan Choi to show solidarity in ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid should have demanded a straight up vote on the measure and not attached it to a military defense bill – where he could be accused of playing politics. Indeed, Servicemembers United’s Alexander Nicholson wondered if Reid was intentionally sabotaging the bill:

Just more than 60 votes had been lined up to break a filibuster on (the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA) and allow the legislation to move forward for debate, amendments and a final vote before the Senate adjourns for yet another month-and-a-half-long recess. That was until Sen. Reid announced he was going to use his status as Senate Majority Leader to block the minority’s customary ability to also offer their amendments to the massive annual defense-spending bill.

This unusual and controversial move by Sen. Reid predictably enraged all Republicans, including the few who were previously prepared to help break the filibuster and allow a repeal-inclusive NDAA to move forward. And who can blame them? This isn’t a very fair move on Sen. Reid’s part, and it wasn’t a very fair move at points in the past when Republicans did it either.

Coming on the heels of the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell fiasco, Author Tracy Baim has a new book, “Obama and the Gays”, in which I wrote an essay. The book offers political insight into this complicated political marriage. In my view, Obama’s biggest problem is that he believed his own campaign rhetoric.

The President looked at the Republicans and essentially said: “I know you dug America into this deep ditch. Now, if you just help me fill in the ditch, I’ll pretend that you didn’t dig it in the first place.”

The Republicans smiled, and agreed to his fortuitous terms. Then, the moment he turned his back they pushed him into the ditch and have been trying to bury him alive in time for the midterm elections. Yet, Obama does not seem to recognize what is happening to him. For two years, he’s kept pleading with Republicans, “Get me out of the ditch so we can fix America’s problems.”

This week’s Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell defeat has taught us two lessons. The first is that the GOP is a useless party full of insane people or those feigning insanity to win the hearts (there are no minds to win) of Tea Baggers. All they offer is digging a bigger ditch and all who think they can work with this party will be buried alive. The second lesson is that the Democrats need to learn how to articulate their message and learn how to fight for what they say they believe in.

In the end, we have seen no change in this disgusting, bigoted policy, and that offers little hope to many people who fought so hard to end this injustice.

(Weekly Column)

Also On The Huffington Post

Last week, I attended the Net Roots conference in Las Vegas. This is a yearly event where bloggers and grassroots activists meet to network and discuss strategy for advancing progressive issues. Net Roots began with fireworks, as the gay organization Get Equal staged a major protest on the Las Vegas strip that stopped traffic.

The demonstrators were demanding that hometown Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit firing people based on their sexual orientation. A total of twenty activists endured 106-degree heat to unfurl a large banner over a pedestrian walkway. Activists Robin McGehee and Lt. Dan Choi were among 7 people arrested during the protest.

Some, who believe Reid should not be pressured during a tough reelection race against loopy Tea Bagger Sharron Angle, questioned Get Equal’s action. However, I support their advocacy and believe it brought much needed attention to a bill that seems to be languishing in the Senate. The pressure and media exposure created by Choi and Get Equal is crucial for several reasons.

First, LGBT issues should not be considered radioactive. Politicians ought to be held accountable for their promises and proudly support equal rights at all times. With the American people overwhelmingly in support of ENDA, there is no excuse for timidity. The time to end discrimination in the workplace is today.

Second, there will always be tough political battles and there seems to never be a convenient time for elected officials to take a stand. The LGBT community was told to wait its turn when Obama was elected because there were complicated issues – such as the economy and two wars. But now, defenders of the status quo still say we should hold off to avoid causing waves during the contentious midterm elections.

If the Republicans win over one or both houses of Congress we will surely be told that nothing can be done because the Republicans are in charge. If the Democrats win, we might be asked to take one for the team because President Obama has a difficult reelection campaign in the near future. And if Obama wins, we may be informed that he does not have the power to act because he is a lame duck president?

There will always be excuses why apprehensive leaders, who gladly take LGBT money and votes, should not act. Meanwhile, as the politicians dither and justify inaction, more gay people are fired from jobs every day. And, an even larger number of workers remain closeted, fearful of losing their careers and facing financial ruin in this dreadful economy.

Third, there are those who claim that groups such as Get Equal should not be targeting “friends” of the LGBT community. I happen to agree with this logic, but believe one is only a true friend in the House or Senate if they are taking bold action to end discrimination. When Harry Reid moves ENDA through the Senate he will be amazed that protesters are no longer causing traffic jams in Las Vegas.

Fourth, some critics say that we should take a go-slow approach and only end one form of state-sanctioned bigotry at a time. This crowd says, we should not push for ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and ENDA in the same year.

This is nonsense and the notion of incremental action on LGBT issues is absurd. It is just as wrong to fire a person in the military, as it is to end a person’s career in the civilian workforce because he or she is gay. If a politician states anti-gay discrimination is morally repugnant, it is his or her obligation to seek out and end all forms of official bigotry at once.

Indeed, contrary to conventional beltway wisdom, eliminating anti-gay discrimination on the same day, through one bill, would be simpler than the current plan of having several protracted fights. It makes sense that once a single vote on a comprehensive LGBT rights bill is taken – the battle would be over with. The American people would see they have nothing to fear and life would move on. No one in Washington has been able to rationally explain how having Congress take one difficult vote on gay rights is more challenging politically than taking multiple tough votes.  Only in DC is 10 bloody fights considered “easier” than one.

Finally, critics of Get Equal and Dan Choi, who also confronted Reid on stage in Las Vegas, like to portray these advocates as publicity seekers. However, I can’t understand how effectively using the national media to draw attention to broken promises is bad for the LGBT movement. These activists should be universally applauded for not allowing ENDA or Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell to suffer quiet deaths on Capitol Hill. The more noise they make, the more likely these bills will become law.

Choi and McGehee headline the best young crop of activists the movement has seen. They are smart, engaging, brave, media savvy and politically aware. Most of the criticism against them stems from jealousy or a need to defend failure to get the job done. As someone who has served in this movement for two decades, I am proud to have these advocates on my side and thankful for the vitality and verve they bring to the LGBT movement.

At Truth Wins Out, we were on the ground protesting long before it was cool.

So, it is with great delight that Get Equal has embraced direct action and vindicated many of our efforts that received undo criticism in stuffier circles.

The bottom line is that no one will give us our rights. We must take them. There is no time to be complacent and expect good things to happen. Paul Yandura, Donald Hitchcock, philanthropist Jonathan Lewis, Kip Williams and Robin McGehee all deserve a lot of credit for their work.

Those who have been arrested, such as Dan Choi, have placed themselves on the line to put a spotlight on our issues. For this, our community should be grateful. I know that I certainly am.

There have been some complaints about Get Equal’s tactics and strategy. But, to tell you the truth, we’ve been strategized to a point of inertia by all the geniuses and smarty pants in DC.

Sometimes, it takes people just getting off their asses and making things happen. Rocking the boat. Shaking up the status quo. Get Equal has accomplished this and propelled our movement forward in the process. They have created genuine pressure, which has benefited the LGBT movement. And, quite frankly, the immediacy of the moment they have fostered is also good strategy.

Recently, I attended a Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell protest in front of the White House. It was an inspiring event. I am so proud of these young activists who are remarkably intelligent and articulate.

Here is an excerpt from The Advocate written by Kerry Eleveld and Andrew Harmon:

…GetEqual appears to have sprung up from nowhere and arrived with haste, the group is an amalgamation of grassroots passion, Beltway savvy, and well-heeled support. Conceived out of a desire to revive the legacy of civil disobedience as exemplified by the civil rights movement and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the group has both directed and inspired a spate of protests by activists nationwide. Its members have taken on the Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” clan, disrupted congressional committee meetings, and heckled President Barack Obama at Democratic fund-raisers, as Kip Williams, who founded the group with McGehee, did last week, leading to his second arrest since GetEqual’ founding.

Read the rest. It is a well written feature story.

Note to Get Equal: Keep the pressure coming. You are making our jobs as activists much easier. Thank you.