First published in the Chicago Free Press on November 23, 2005.
It is reasonable to wonder whether gays and lesbians are achieving anything politically, and wonder what to do about it if we aren't.
With a Republican president and a Republican Congress dominated by southern conservatives, we will see no progress at the national level. The president supports a Constitutional gay marriage ban. Congress will not repeal military's ban on gay servicemembers, nor will it approve a gay non-discrimination law.
The 2006 elections are not likely to change anything. Democrats are unlikely to win the 5 or 6 seats they need to control of the Senate. Even if they did, conservative Democrats would join Republicans to defeat gay-supportive bills Democratic leaders might propose. The most we can hope for is defeating a religious zealot like Rick Santorum.
Nor are the Democrats likely to win control of the House. Redistricting after the 2000 census created even more safe House districts, leaving only a handful in play politically. Even if Democrats won control of Congress, the president would veto any pro-gay legislation.
At the state level, to be sure, there has been some good news. The California legislature approved gay marriage although the bill was vetoed. The Connecticut legislature approved a civil unions law. The Illinois legislature approved and Maine voters upheld gay civil rights laws. Acknowledged.
But outside a few liberal areas, we have lost far more often than won. More and more states have added gay marriage bans to their Constitutions, bans that will be hard to overturn, some extending to any sort of civil union and domestic partner arrangements.
And think of all the gay bills that fail. They are defeated by the legislature, or more often never make it out of committee, or are not even introduced because, well, really, why bother if they are not going to pass. It is not so much that legislators are personally homophobic, although many may be, but that they fear electoral defeat if opponents can accuse them of supporting "the gay agenda." That's democracy, I'm afraid.
This analysis need not lead to despair, however, only a tactical shift in the focus of our efforts, focusing on thinking locally and acting locally. Here are three alternative models for making gay progress.
Focusing on the city level makes sense since cities are often more liberal than state legislatures. Cities that have not done so can be urged to pass gay civil rights bills, to approve domestic partner plans for city employees and require major city contractors to offer domestic partner benefits. The goal is to get gay partnerships legally recognized to establish a precedent.
We can urge cities to mandate their own lobbyists to pressure state legislatures to approve gay supportive legislation. We can invite mayors and council members to more gay events, assuming that their attendance promotes gay legitimacy. We can press school boards to enforce strict anti-bullying policies and mandate teacher sensitivity training about gay students.
Second, we need to keep in mind that young people are about twice as gay supportive as adults over 60, so future voters are more likely to be gay-friendly. We can support and hasten that change by assisting any Gay/Straight Alliances in local schools and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network that fosters them.
Do they need supplies? Do they need books? Do they need money to rent films? Do they want guest speakers? Do they need money for a field trip? Do they want to donate books to the school library? (Will the librarian make them available?) Groups of supportive adults can help those students just as the ubiquitous "Boosters Clubs" support school athletic programs.
Third, gay Christians can join and help gay-supportive groups in their own denominations. Public opinion can be significantly affected in the long run by the policies of churches and pronouncements of prominent clergy, so efforts to move churches in a gay-supportive direction are vital.
Wealthy conservative Christians such as California's Howard Ahmanson have contributed vast sums of money to promote anti-gay organizing efforts in the Episcopal church and other denominations. We must respond with equal amounts of money, organizing and solidly-based theology. Existing gay Christian groups can form the nucleus of that effort, but need far greater support for their efforts.
Those are three important areas to work on. There are others. Employees at large companies can join the gay employee groups and work for domestic partner and other benefits. People can ask if local public librarians will accept gifts of gay books and donate some if so. They can write Letters to the Editor of the local newspaper. And, of course, most effective of all is coming out to everyone you know. Arguments can have an impact, but personal experience has more impact than anything else.
In short, no one has to remain silent and defenseless when gay people and their lives are attacked or ignored as insignificant. People have the means to defend themselves-if they but make the effort.