Two months worth of everything worth doing! See "Calendar", page 7
CHALLENGE The Newsletter of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County – Serving New Jersey’s GLBTI Communities Since 1972
Volume 37, Issue 6, Summer 2011
Courageous Leaders by Mickey Suiter
Lately I’ve been feeling more than a bit impatient and frustrated with our political leaders. I keep reading polls that show more and more Americans are supporting our rights on various issues, yet we don’t seem to be attaining many legislative victories. In my early years as an activist I prided myself on my patience and ‘maturity’ in acknowledging that gaining our rights would not happen overnight, but it’s beginning to seem a ridiculously long time to me. Growing up in the turmoil of the sixties, I admired politicians of both parties who took courageous stands on controversial civil rights issues. I’ve sometimes wondered where their counterparts are today. So, in comparing those times with today, I did a little research into public opinion polls taken then and now. The results surprised me. In 1954, when the Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling ordering the end of segregation in schools, a Gallup poll showed the public approved of the decision by a 55-40 percent margin. Ten years later, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, public approval was 62 percent. In spite of a majority of Americans supporting these decisions, they were still very controversial and politicians who supported them were considered courageous. Compare that with today’s Gallup polls on LGBT issues. In 2008, the public approved equal employment rights for gays by an 89-8 margin. And yet ENDA, the bill that would make that federal law, has been stalled in Congress since then. In December 2010, the month that legislation repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" was passed by Congress, a Gallup poll showed that Americans favored the right for gays to serve openly in the military by a 67-28 margin. Yet the Republican majority in the House is still trying to slow down repeal. And in May 2011, a Gallup poll showed that for the first time a majority of Americans supported (53-45) gay marriage equality. But we all know that a repeal of DOMA is going nowhere in Congress. So it looks like our so-called leaders have almost always been followers. Why is it so hard for politicians to support an idea that already has the support of the public? Part of it, in the case of LGBT rights, is age. Polls show that younger people are far more likely to support our cause than older people. And most political leaders are older. But another reason is that those who oppose civil rights, now and in the past, are more vocal and vehement about it than those who support equality, hiding the reality of majority support.
Many Republican Congressmen, including Morris County’s own Rodney Frelinghuysen, have expressed support for ENDA in the past, yet they are not pressing their party leadership on the issue. And that’s as much our fault as theirs. We haven’t been pushing them on our issues. We haven’t been showing them that supporting us would not be a risky act of political courage, but one of common sense and doing what their constituents want. And some Democrats are just as bad, giving lip service to our cause while actually doing nothing to change the status quo. We have to tell them that words are not enough, that only action on our behalf will earn our gratitude and support. Politicians want to be safe while appearing courageous. It’s up to us to show them they can do both while supporting our goals. There are always going to be those who oppose us on philosophical, moral or religious grounds. We have little hope in changing their minds. But there are others who are just afraid to stick their necks out and support us. They are the ones who we have to convince that being courageous won’t end their careers.
Inside Challenge Challenge Information.... ................................ page 2 GAAMC Events.............................................. page 2 The Bulletin Board......................................... page 3 This Month's Contributors................................ page 3 Getting Personal............................................ page 3 Gleanings: Queer news from around the world .... page 4 Dancing to Architecture music reviews............... page 5 Poetry: Three Days in July............................... page 6 Calendar ..................................................... page 7 Activism Update .......................................... page 10 My 2011 AIDS Walkathon Reflections................. page 10 10 Anti-Gay Myths Debunked, part 2................. page 12 Telling Our Stories........................................ page 12 Dylan, at the 11th Hour .................................. page 14 Good Eats! recipes....................................... page 15 GAAMC Information...................................... page 16