New Direction for the Queer Movement Post-Prop 8

November 13, 2008

By C. Sean Spivey

Articles Editor

Oklahoma City University Law Review

First, to all of those who believed fear mongering would work in the 2008 Election, I have some fear-mongering of my own to spin: Imagine what our state would be like if between 3.5 and 5% of our tax revenue suddenly disappeared.  Imagine going into your favorite restaurant or bar and finding no one there to serve you.   Imagine your family doctor or lawyer not returning your phone calls.  Imagine what life would be like if every day you were inundated by rallies, parades, protests, demonstrations, sit-ins, and the like.  Imagine all of this at your front doorstep, every single day, day in and day out; and imagine having to explain all of this to your children, or your out-of-state family and friends.

On November 4th, the gay and lesbian community celebrated the victory of President-Elect Barack Obama, but subsequently mourned the passage of Proposition 8 in California, as well as similar measures in three other states.  Our neighbors to the northeast even went so far as to ban gays and lesbians (as well as single people in general) from adopting or fostering children.  A little closer to home, Oklahomans decided to oust a completely qualified gay man from a statewide office in lieu of an admitted forger.  Also, Oklahoma House District 84 chose to re-elect to public services Sally Kern, a person who called gays (and Muslims, as you will recall) worse than terrorists. 

So, to all of the people in this great State who felt the need to interfere with the rights of a group of people who, up until now, have been very complacent, settling usually for a rider to an appropriations bill, or a half-heart-felt statement in a committee meeting, this message is addressed partially to you.

And to those of you who sat idly by and allowed this to happen, waiting for some Selma, or Birmingham-like moment from which to spring forth into action, I have a message for you too: stop waiting, because one of the only things that the close-minded bigots who feed off of this fodder have learned to do right is to NOT use the old tactics of sicking the dogs or the hozes on us.  These proponents of discrimination have learned the lessons of history past; to use the institutional structures of our society to promote their agenda through less aggressive, though no less harmful, means.

While I do not purport to speak for the entire Oklahoma Queer community (by the way, I use queer because it seems much easier than saying “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning” etc. etc. over and over again, so I will refer to all of my brothers and sisters of a non-hetero orientation as “Queer “), I think I can say with a fair amount of confidence that collectively, we have had enough.  We are ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure equal rights to marriage, to family, to government benefits, to all of the opportunities available to each and every other Oklahoman.  And now, I think it would only be fair to explain how we intend on accomplishing this, which takes me back to my first allegory.

1.) The gay community is in desperate need of new, young, innovative leadership.  What we all have learned from this past election is that, despite as much hard work as it entails, grassroots leadership works.  The Queer movement has experienced this sort of leadership in places like D.C. and New York and L.A., but not in places like Oklahoma City, or Tulsa, or Lawton or Woodward or Muskogee, or the other cities in this great State that we call home.  Over and over again, we have seen data that suggests that the strongest determinant of how voter identifies on queer issues is AGE.  So it seems obvious that the best way to invigorate and activate pro-equality voters between the ages of 18-30 would be to give these voters a thirty-something peer-mentor to work under; someone these youths and young adults—whether gay, strait, or otherwise—can look up to as a model for future public interest and grassroots work. 

2.) The Queer community needs to go guerilla.  Up until now, the community has worked exteremly hard for the strides that have been made, but I think we may have worked harder instead of smarter.  Instead or marching in parades or lobbying a deaf legislature, unwilling to move even an inch on our issues, we need to be more aggressive.  For example, we could follow Melissa Ethridges’ lead and stop paying taxes; or we could follow in the footsteps of Dr. King and commit acts of civil disobedience.  Ultimately, what we need to make known is that if we are to be treated as a sub-class, apart from the “citizens” of the United States, then we will no longer agree to be bound to the duties that are payment for such a privilege.  Government, after all, is merely a social contract, and when one party has materially breached their duties under a contract, the other party may unilaterally rescind his or her obligations under such a contract. 

Now I understand that some of my more risk-adverse friends may not be as amenable to this sort of behavior; however, there are ways that even risk-adverse seekers of equality can become involved in this new, guerilla approach.  For example, each and every Queer person here today could go and apply for a tax exemption based on your sexual orientation.  If you were denied such an exemption (as you undoubtedly would be) then you would have the right to initiate a lawsuit against the State.  This is only one of an infinite number of new, untested avenues to achieve the end result that we all want to see.

3.) Take no prisoners.  One of the largest obstacles in any human rights struggle is separating the cause from the people working towards the cause.  Now please, do not take this as belittling the glorious accomplishments of those before us who have taken us this far in our movement; what I am suggesting, however, is that we have to be willing to go further than we ever have before.  We must begin to ask ourselves tough questions about some of the people we love admire and respect.  Because, as far as we have come, we have so much farther to go, and at this point what we must recognize is that no one person, no one token legislator, no one church, no one school, no one political party is delivering to us the results we want and need.  So let this moment put every person listening (friend or foe) on notice: this movement has nowhere to go but forward, and we’re ready to take any action necessary to bring equality to Oklahoma.  We will meet you in our streets, we will meet you in our schools, we will meet you in restaurants, stores, bars, and playgrounds, where our children (who we love just as much as you love yours) play side-by-side with your children.  We will meet you in our churches, because some of us kneel next to you in common prayer.  And yes, we will meet you on the steps of the Capitol, and we will meet you there as many times, for as many hours, and as many days as are necessary, and where civil disobedience is required we will act, and accept our punishment as lawful citizens do, because while our enemies may not abide by the rule of law, while they may  trample over that founding creed that “all men are created equal”, we have the respect and the love of country that requires adherence to such principles, even when it may not be fair to us to do so.

We will win this battle, not just because we have to, but because as Dr. King once famously said,

“We have…come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley…to the sunlit path of…justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of…injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all….”

So, will today be the day you drop the gauntlet? Every day that passes is another day we will have to justify to our children, and to our grandchildren, why we discriminated, why we persecuted, why we allowed such bigotry to pervade and brutalize our Queer brothers and sisters.  Will today be the day?  Only you can decide that.  But as for me, enough is enough.  Today is that day for me.  Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.  I hope you will join me.