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editorial
Get out of the gayborhood
Published Thursday, 20-Nov-2008 in issue 1091
In 1967, Milwaukee was one of the most segregated cities in the nation. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, blacks accounted for more than 15 percent of the population, but efforts to desegregate housing and schools led nowhere.
The anger and frustration over segregation laws led to riots in the city’s black neighborhoods, and in August 1967, the NAACP Youth Council marched through Kosciuskzo Park, a predominantly white neighborhood, to protest the Common Council’s refusal to pass an open-housing ordinance, which was first introduced in 1962.
The demonstration in the white neighborhood of Milwaukee was a turning point in the state’s history, empowering blacks to march daily through the winter of 1967-68. Finally in the spring of ’68, the federal open housing law passed, preventing discrimination in 80 percent of the nation; and in April, Milwaukee’s Common Council approved a desegregation law stronger than the nation’s.
Regardless of the progress, the city still faced legal loopholes in segregation laws – but the black community in Milwaukee made itself heard to white residents. Similarly, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) advocated for nonviolent direct action protests in white neighborhoods. In the 1960s, the chair of CORE, Robert Lucas, was critical of the civil rights movement, and led a march through Cicero, Ill., where whites were hostile to blacks, throwing bottles and bricks and shouting obscenities. Despite the march’s ultimately violent turn, CORE’s mission was accomplished: blacks became visible in white neighborhoods, and the seeds for change were planted.
Since Proposition 8 passed a little more than two weeks ago, supporters of same-sex marriage have marched and rallied in, of all places, San Francisco’s Castro district, West Hollywood, and, locally, in Hillcrest and in District 3.
The trouble is: those locales are predominantly gay or gay-friendly. Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein said it best, days after the election: “Since they lost the right to marry in California, gays appear to have no game plan, marching around West Hollywood and Silver Lake with their old ‘No on 8’ signs, which makes about as much sense as holding a John McCain rally next month at John McCain’s house.”
Similar to the marches in the Civil Rights Movement, which eventually filtered into the white neighborhoods, we must take our movement into more conservative, less gay-friendly areas.
We made the point in last week’s editorial; our marches need to become outreach tools and opportunities to educate voters outside our communities.
Saturday’s march, which infiltrated the streets of Downtown San Diego and drew more than 20,000 participants, was a start – though, ideologically, Downtown’s residents are far more likely to support same-sex marriage than residents in East County or North County.
Jennifer Schumaker, a lesbian mother of four in North County, took the fight for same-sex marriage to Escondido’s streets before the Nov. 4 election. She stood at a busy intersection in Escondido every day after work for weeks holding a sign that read, “Hi! I’m your neighbor! Protect my right to marriage: Please vote no on Prop. 8.”
Schumaker’s brand of activism – though it drew support from a number of her friends and family members and others in the conservative outlying areas – wasn’t popular with the businesses at Escondido Boulevard and Valley Parkway. One in particular posted a “Yes on 8” sign to counter Schumaker’s message. Regardless, Schumaker made her message about same-sex marriage clear to an audience who might otherwise not have known an opposing view.
It’s inevitable. The media is going to lose interest in our marches and rallies; Saturday’s march, with the largest number of participants in marches nationwide, may be the crescendo to the story on Proposition 8’s aftermath. It’s likely, now, fewer people will march, and fewer media outlets will take notice.
That is, unless our community begins to think outside the box; unless, like demonstrators during the Civil Rights Movement, we take our marches into uncharted territory, and we’re persistent, marching until progress is made.
Marching through the streets of Hillcrest, people gave us thumbs up and honked horns to show their support. Sure, it made us feel good. But did marching in our neighborhoods change minds, or prompt anyone to pause and reconsider his or her vote? Perhaps a few, but it’s not likely.
A march organized to educate people in more conservative areas would be more effective; demonstrators could carry flyers with quotes from the late Coretta Scott King and from Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, all who opposed Proposition 8. Wouldn’t that be an opportunity to change more hearts and open more closed minds?
Non-religious zealot
says:
Bravo! It is confounding that our community mobilized so well for
protesting, but didn't take their message to:
Nov 20, 2008 12:23 PM
Tony Cochran
says:
Yes! It is critical for those of us in the Queer community to "think
outside the box." Indeed there is an opportunity here to form coalitions
and move forward in a way that makes Queer LGBT issues more visible and
powerful.
Nov 20, 2008 1:16 PM
ASR
says:
Exactly! Finally somebody said it. No more Pride Parades. We need real live marches into the cities where we are unwelcome. We can party and drink in 10 years when the work is done.
Nov 20, 2008 4:12 PM
Looking for a better approach
says:
Excellent point! Thank you for having the guts to put a critical eye to the
issue and offer ways to improve it. You would not believe how easily our
brothers and sisters will turn on you if you voice a different opinion or
think there are things we are doing wrong. From the beginning I have had
problems with the way our community and the media has been focusing on this
as being a "gay" issue. We all know that the minute you mention the word
"gay" or "homosexual", there is an immediate and insurmountable wall of
hatred and fear thrown up by many of our unenlightened fellow humans.
Perhaps we should be focusing on trying to avoid eliciting that response in
the people we are hoping will see the error of their ways and next time
change their vote to promote equality among ALL people, not just gays and
lesbians, even if that really is the group currently being denied a right
that others have. Maybe we should focus on it not being about denying or
allowing "gay" marriage, but instead focus on changing the law to allow
marriage between "two consenting adults". Period. No gay, straight, black,
white, mormon, catholic. Just two consenting adults. I know there are a lot
of people that think this is what we were trying to do, but I'm here to
tell you folks, that's not what it looked like. Every person interviewed,
article written and media story was focused on it being about gay marriage.
Flashed across the screen. Written in black and white. Stated numerous
times by both the hosts of the talk shows AND the supposed celebrity guests
against prop 8. It WAS about "gay marriage", and that focus alone was
probably enough to alienate a lot of people that were undecided. As you
said, we need to look more closely at not just what the issue is, but how
to approach it so that we are victorious.
Nov 20, 2008 5:28 PM
Dave Z
says:
Funny, as I grew up in the white milwaukee suburbs I remember there being a
great deal of panic because these protesters were throwing malatov (sp?)
cocktais, turning over cars, and looting. My grandparents and their
neighbors on the south side were afraid for their lives. My dad drove in
to get his parents and nearly was pulled out of his car...until they saw
the handgun.
Nov 20, 2008 5:44 PM
Wendy Sue Biegeleisen
says:
PROP 8, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, EQUAL RIGHTS –
Nov 20, 2008 5:48 PM
andrew
says:
Nov 23, 2008 8:31 PM
Bill
says:
It is so refreshing to see people really 'get it' on this topic. We should
all get out of the 'ghetto' and join the real world because it is in the
real world where a difference can be made on this issue. I know this from
personal experience working in an evangelical environment.
Nov 24, 2008 1:59 PM
Jim
says:
Thanks for all the links Sue, and, sorry andrew, not all blacks live in the "ghetto," and that sort of mentality is why most blacks of any sexual orientation can't relate to this fight, since that condescending tone is a total turnoff to those who want to fight the fight and show that we aren't going to stoop to the race baiting that so many have done since the election.
Nov 25, 2008 8:09 AM
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