On Saturday MassEquality staff canvassed the anti-war rally on the Boston Common. I always love telling MassEquality staff that I will not wear their stickers because I am queer. It confuses them every time because they only know what it means to be mainstream gay.
Note to MassEquality : If you want to canvass and distribute patriotic stickers at anti-war rallies you should probably stop supporting the war!
Fact: MassEquality has endorsed Republicans who support the hateful Republican Platform, Mitt Romney, and the Republican party. Fact: MassEquality and HRC have close ties and work together. Fact: HRC has endorsed pro-war candidates and helped to maintain the Republican majority for years. Fact: HRC and MassEquailty have never denounced the occupation of Iraq.
"McTighe, (MEQ Director) who spent eight years in Washington, D.C., as the Republican point person for the Human Rights Campaign, has been working at MassEquality since early 2006......While in D.C., McTighe established friendships with many Log Cabin Republicans, which helped him develop the skills necessary to establish a strong foundation for the long-term success of MassEquality’s goals." - EdgeBoston
Quotes from a MassEquality Endorsed Republican Racist:
"Illegal aliens are a burden to the taxpayers. Illegal aliens are persons who have entered this country illegally. They have broken laws to do so. They are not immigrants, they are illegal trespassers. Preventing access to the country by illegal aliens is a means of protecting the health, security and safety of all Americans." - Steven Howitt
Will MassEquality continue their hypocrisy by canvassing at the immigrants rights rally this may?
I have no problem with MassEquality lobbying Republicans, wooing them, etc. so they vote the right way on marriage. But they should leave the protests and rallies to the activists who actually care about social justice across the board unless they are goingto publicly say they are against the war, the immigrant raids, etc. They are not the voice of the LGBT community, which both mainstream and gay papers often make them out to be. To counteract this misconception we must all speak out about issues of racism, classism, sexism, etc. louder than ever.
Discussion is now happening at Quench Zine on this topic as well > check it out!
13 comments:
Thanks for this article Mark. Until now I had no idea they were taking such a middle of the road attitude on the war. I'm sure people wil be interested in asking them to take a stand after this!
BTW, you were sadly missed at the Deval blogger meeting.
Mark,
We need to unify our voices in the LGBT Community. If our "leadership" cannot be inclusive of all LGBT how can we expect it to be inclusive of all LGBT issues?
MassEquality was created for only one mission: to protect same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. That's why they are funded so well. Donors give thousands of dollars because they trust MassEquality to work on keeping same-sex marriage legal...and nothing else. They are not able to take positions on outside issues such as the war, "illegal" immigration, or even other queer issues. They would lose their funding and their clout on Beacon Hill if they were to stray from the one issue they were created for.
Ya, it sucks. But this is politics. You have to play to win.
That beings said - I hope that MassEquality will break away from this one issue mission and become a more progress political machine.
I don't think it is fair to say that MassEquality is for the war though. Just because they cannot publicly speak out against the war, doesn't mean they support it. I would bet that most, if not all, of the employees at MassEquality are against the war.
Maybe someday they will be able to speak out against the war. But if they are to keep their political clout and the funding that is needed to accomplish their mission (to protect same-sex marriage in Massahusetts), then they must play the political game. It kind of sucks, but it is how you win in this fucked up political arena.
Perhaps we should all be working to change the game of politics instead of playing it. ;)
It does suck, because it means they are endorsing racist pro-war people simply to save marriage. As if marriage is more important than say liberation for immigrants. I understand that this is how lobby organizations work.
The issue for me primarily is that MassEquality does extend beyondlobbying - they try to control rallies and protests for one thing.And they are extremely well funded and through tv ads print ads etc. it will only support the notion that they are the organization that represents us all. Another thing is that the media and many members of our community view MassEquality as THE voice for our community. THE LGBT rights organization in our state. They are not - they are a single issue organization.
When you have gay Republicans at the top positions of organizations that are viewed as the main gay rights organization in the state - that is troubling to me. That is reason enough for us to speak out.
If you endorse pro-war candidates, and you never once say that you condemn the war - then you are supporting the war. Silence and complacency reult in death.
Hi Mark,
I started writing a reply here but decided to put it on my own blog:
http://quenchzine.blogspot.com/2007/03/queertoday-missed-point-this-time.html
I'm sorry, your logic sounds like the "one-drop rule."
If you promote a single candidate who has ever supported the war, you support the war (unless you say otherwise).
What about: If you promote a single candidate who has ever opposed the war, you oppose the war (unless you say otherwise).
In the latter case, MassEquality also OPPOSES the war.
MassEquality looks for candidates based on one issue and one issue alone. Your complaint that they are often mistaken as the voice of the GLBT people is not a complaint about MassEquality, it is a complaint about the media. You're saying "They're often the considered the 'voice', but because they're a one-issue organization, they give the wrong impression. So they need to change." But they don't want to change because their goal isn't to be the voice. If you want someone else to be the voice, have them speak out louder. But right now, the media only cares about gay marriage, so unless you're prepared to focus on that issue and to compette with MassEquality for resources and attention, they're the voice of THIS ISSUE.
MassEquality has no position on the war. Stop pretending it does because you don't like them.
I think that one endorsement of a pro-war, anti-immigrant, or anti-women's rights candidate is one too many.
MEQ could publicly applaud a candidate's pro-marriage votes without endorsing their candidacy on the backs of other oppressed people. That only plays into the system that seeks to divide oppressed people to keep us down.
I like people who work for MEQ. Ther are a lot of compassionate, cool people who work and volunteer there.
I do think we need to win the vote on marriage equality. I do think we should convince lawmakers of that.
But I have a problem with MEQ's strategy. And I don't accept the "well this is politics" or "well but we are single issue" line as justification for the endorsement of anti-immigrant candidates, or justification of some of their pr strategies.
Mass'equality' is just a sham for wealthy white gays.
Queers see through your spin. Single-issue orgs are going to be a target when they drain queer hiv-aids/youth/ women/ domestic violence/ youth of color organizations dry of their community funding.
Wealthy white gays need nothing more than to stomp on the feet of the oppressed.
Single issue orgs are one thing, orgs that endorse anti-immigrant candidates are another. If youre single issue is HIV/AIDS cool, or feeding the homeless cool. But don't be endorsing candidates that would vote to defund all AIDS money just because they support funding feeding the homeless.
I think MassEquality was the only organization present at the anti-war rally that had actually never spoken against the war. Even the animal rights organizations had anti-war signs. It is they who do not stand in solidarity, not those of us who are calling them out on it.
MEQ misrepresents green candidate:
http://web.greens.org/news/displayarticle.php?mediaId=5229
Does it make a difference to any of you that the war is a national issue while MEQ endorsed candidates at teh state level only?
The war is a local issue because our local peers are dying over there. Furthermore, the immigration issue is especially local.
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