Grinding a Bean

Today is a day of mixed emotions. Celebratory in an Obama win. Clouded in part while analysts try to determine how race played into his win, instead of connecting to the fact that it was his vision of hope that resonated with America.

And then the absolute disgust with California voters for their utter ignorance as they followed the Religious Right like sheep to the Constitutional slaughter.


Additonally, the failure of mainstream media to focus on the initiatives that would deny gays both marriage or adoption rights in Arizona, California, Florida and Arkansas. The media had a chance to factually check some of the misleading information that was spoon fed by the Mormons to the American public. Instead they dropped the ball in favor of repetitive & overdosing amounts of presidential analysis.

But I am also chewing on the bitter bean of anger and disappointment with our own gay community's lack of leadership. I can point a finger at the Religious Right, but there are four pointing right back at our own gay community which includes my own failure within that community. It's a sobering Cup o' Joe this morning as I ponder both our failures and the possible impact of an Obama presidency.

Where do we go from here in the gay community? I think we must reflect on the pages of Obama's own successful campaign playbook...looking deeply at the organization of his grassroots ground game. I think we also have to look at the campaign that the Religious Right waged with "Yes on 8" and deconstruct the effective components that we need to strategically comprehend and put to use within our own movement.

We need to look at our gay leadership and ask, are they really effective leaders? Where did all those gay dollars go? Why did they fail in their own campaign to resonate with liberals, independents and even with gays themselves? And finally, why do we continue to try to be polite in our struggle? Rather than challenging every single one of the Rights lies and political/social spin on the issues.

To the HRC, I continue to say that you need to do a better job before you reach for the wallets of the gay community, as if you are our only hope for progress. You've done a lousy job actually and we shouldn't feel grateful for the failures of the nation's second largest lobbying organization. We lost FOUR opportunities out of FOUR...that is utter failure.