AT THE RECENT MILLENNIUM MARCH ON WASHINGTON (MMOW), the one topic that took predominance over all others was, yet again, the relentless demand for more diversity - that is, an acceleration of the fight for racial justice both within the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered/movement and in society as a whole. Of course, anyone who has been around gay politics for more than a millisecond recognizes the pre-eminence of the diversity issue. But is the LGBT movement really as racist (or sexist, or "classist") as we're so often told?
First, a few observations about the march as microcosm. One of the main objections of MMOW critics was that the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign and other organizers failed to sufficiently seek input from people of color. This, despite the fact that the organizing board of the MMOW had a 50 percent people of color requirement (yes, some would say quota). Mere tokenism, huffed the critics.
HRC has strongly supported affirmative action - including race- and gender-based preferences - as part of its legislative agenda. It's even a criterion they use to rate the politicians they'll support. And while most of speakers at the MMOW rally seemed to have been selected as representatives of their respective racial and ethnic minorities, many voiced their solidarity with MMOW critics and used their speaking time to attack the white majority attendees for their lack of commitment to diversity (that is, their racism).
Keith Boykin, a former executive director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, spoke for nearly 30 minutes, saying, "I speak because we must broaden the movement to see the intersection of race, gender, class, religion, sexuality, and ethnicity. ... I speak as a member of the family because there are problems in the family that cannot be healed by sweeping them under the sterilized, sanitized rug of homogenized homosexuality. ... I speak to resist the commercialization and commodification of the mainstream gay lifestyle that enriches the privileged few and impoverishes the masses with a bankrupt culture of uniformity."
These quotes come from gay press accounts. What I remember of Boykin's address was his bitter denunciation of Republicans, all Republicans -- so much for celebrating the diversity of our community.
Speaker after speaker focused on issues of race. "Many of our groups and organizations that claim to embrace diversity still remain far too white," said Jack Jackson, a gay member of the National Congress of American Indians. Said Martin Ornelas-Quintero, executive director of the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Organization (LLEGO), "One way that I see that we still have a long way to go is the fact that there had to be meetings of the Millennium March board to decide whether to allocate me an extra three minutes so my message could be delivered in Spanish. That speaks volumes about how much further we have to go."
LLEGO had endorsed the event and taken part in the planning process, but still grumped that Latino leaders had not been sufficiently included in initial discussions about the march.
Still another speaker bemoaned that the attendees were 75 percent white although the speakers were 75 percent not, blaming the "lack of diversity" among marchers on insufficient "outreach." And on and on, repeating demands that the LGBT movement make a "true" commitment to diversity and place more emphasis on racial justice issues.
It must have surprised outside observers that the fight for gay marriage wasn't a central issue for speakers. Even more glaring, the issue of gays in the military was positively shunted aside and given only a few moments at the rally's end - much to the chagrin of gay veterans. Other issues were lost as well. Consider Leslie Powell Sadasivan, a mother whose gay son committed suicide after years of teasing and harassment at school. She had been scheduled to give a three-minute speech at 4:20. As the event droned on, she was given all of 15 seconds at 6:30. The text of her prepared remarks, which she released over the Internet, is searing. Too bad the professional activists couldn't make time for her. Too much gay racism (and sexism and classism) to denounce.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which boycotted the march, declares on its website that it is "imperative that we develop an economic and racial justice agenda for the GLBT movement." It goes on to state, "Many mainstream GLBT organizations have abdicated their responsibility to serve the needs and incorporate the aspirations and values of people of color and low-income people within our communities."
Let's get some perspective here. Sure, racism exists - in society, and in the gay community. But does anyone really think gays and lesbians are as racist as the activists seem to believe? Our movement seems fixated on racial guilt-mongering and identity politics run amuck, with the predictable result that most non-activist gays and lesbians just tune it out. That's too bad, because diversity is a positive good, and we do need to celebrate our differences.
A recent study conducted by the National Conference for Community and Justice found that 83 percent of Americans questioned said blacks were victims of discrimination. And 76 percent said that Hispanics (or, in movement-speak, Latina/os) faced some discrimination. Women and American Indians were next with 67 percent. But when the question was taken beyond racial and ethnic groups, gay Americans were perceived to be the victims of discrimination in greater numbers than blacks. This was a survey of perceptions, of course. But one has to wonder why gay activists are so focused on racism within the gay community while other minority-rights activists pay, at best, lip service to homophobia in their own communities.
The study concludes that one solution to helping America bridge its racial divide would be open, honest conversations across racial, political, ethnic, and gender lines. There's merit in that. But endless denunciation of gay white racism doesn't foster such conversations; it merely shuts them down.