Discussion of the much-overdone Chick-Fil-A controversy has shifted from the First Amendment rights of corporate President Dan Cathy to the stupidity of LGBT civil rights movement in picking a fight we couldn’t win. Even a sympathetic correspondent from New York magazine thinks we blew it by having small groups of activists exchange kisses at Chick-Fil-A locations around the country: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/chick-fil-a-counter-protest-was-sort-of-a-bust.html
But engaging the controversy–kicked off by Dan Cathy’s inflammatory opposition to marriage equality and the reactions of several big-city mayors–has been the only opportunity LGBT advocates have had to speak for ourselves in this context. Otherwise the ongoing debate about our lives, liberties, and pursuit of happiness would have happened without us, and we’d just be caricatured.
One of the most frustrating aspects of being a gay activist today is being told that our movement has prevailed or will prevail inevitably so we should just chill and wait things out when something like the Chick-Fil-A brouhaha happens. That was the thrust of Jon Stewart’s otherwise positive segment on Thursday. Meanwhile, gay kids still get bullied and driven to suicide, even with the Promised Land in full view. Their tormentors more clearly perceive the reality of hatred in 21st century America than do many of our friends.
The simple fact is that homophobia remains prevalent enough to inspire bullies and bashers even in liberal Massachusetts. Why–because hate groups like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association get a media platform the KKK could never aspire to, and have millions of dollars to propagate their muck due to the largesse of corporations like Chick-Fil-A. Can we stop them from being heard? We wouldn’t even try: unpopular minorities would be wrong to take on the First Amendment when that’s the only mechanism that would allow us to hold Pride Parades in most of the South. But we will continue to shine a light on the connections between American fundamentalists and the Uganda “kill-the-gays” bill, attracting media attention as best we know how. It’s a given that homophobes get their say, in school hallways and dark alleys throughout the country. We have an uphill climb with allies like Jon Stewart telling us the fight is over and we’ve already won.
This point is best articulated by this article at the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/guy-branum/chick-fil-a-boycott_b_1731169.html?ref=topbar Perhaps my feelings are too personally engaged, since I was one of those bullied gay kids growing up in rural Mississippi in the 1970’s who is lucky to be alive today. Our movement will make mistakes, to be sure, and can count on being called on every one of them. But silence equals death and we’ve had too much of both of those.
is backed by your link to Guy Branum’s article:
In other words, Mr Branum is telling us that this protest might be counterproductive but he doesn’t care because, because, well because he needs to feel good.
People in mature political movements that actually want to win don’t say stuff like that.
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The rest of the article descends into some kind of proving his masculinity thing that one would hope gay activists would be too self-aware to indulge in.
someone who has clearly felt the lash of homophobia more tangibly than you. I don’t think many LGBT rights advocates are “feeling good” about the way this controversy has been spun, least of all Guy Branum.
Lashes don’t ensure good tactics. Your saying we should support this idea out of some kind of sympathy vote?
The goal is win not to stage one’s personal therapy needs publicly.
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that your response could be more civil. I apologize if I’ve made you mad.
This kind of competition by numbers was not going to be good. CNN for example reports that this demonstration turned up numbers that are not useful for our side:
Not a big draw in Chattanooga.
In Torrance, California, vandalism seems to have taken over the news (“Tastes like Hate”) Probably not too successful that.
New Jersey activists “instead chose to contact operators of Chick-fil-A stores requesting meetings to talk about the controversy surrounding Dan Cathy and his public opposition to same-sex marriage.”
A wise and shrewd Lesbian couple in Atlanta also had a good idea: they “invited Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy to join her, her wife and two children for a meal “with an LGBT family.”
Just as shrewdly, the Wichita, Kansas owner of a Chick Fil A handed out free chicken sandwiches and water to protesters.
The kiss-in, which was not a response to Mike Huckabee’s homophobia appreciation day, was a means toward the end of airing our criticisms of Chick-Fil-A. Our concern is its sponsorship of hate groups, not its President’s views of same-sex marriage. The Anti-Defamation League estimates that there are still 35 Million anti-Semites in America today. There are at least 3 times as many homophobes. We never intended to compete with the right-wing in numbers. We’re simply trying to speak for ourselves.
Our movement tends to try every tactic under the sun, although you can’t blame the organized community for an isolated instance of vandalism. Lots of protestors were offered goodies by nice guy franchise owners–some turned them down. Ultimately the franchisees are irrelevant in this debate, because they have to hand over 50% of their net profits to corporate, which in turn funds the hate groups.
Some critics of our movement, while professing neutrality as to same vs. opposite sex displays of affection, really think same-sex PDA’s are different and gross. There’s no question that the sight of gays kissing infuriates homophobes and distracts moderates from our talking points, at least temporarily. The reaction to same-sex kissing just illustrates how far we have to go. When Olympic swimmer Matt Grevers won the gold medal for the US in the 100M backstroke competition, he blew his female fiancee a kiss. I thought that was touching. If his fiancee had been a dude, you can bet it would have been received differently. That’s the reality we struggle against.
I don’t think you have answered my main point. Nor do I see how I’m confusing strategy and tactics.
Your opening sentence sounds like bad tactical judgement: “we intended it this but it was perceived that way so it isn’t our fault.” Good tactical judgement is based on effects not intents. The activists involved may not have wanted a comparison with the Huckabee event but, given the timing, that was plainly inevitable. The activists may be very nice well-meaning people but that doesn’t make their tactics any better.
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Helping Americans over the idea that PDAs among same sex couples are icky seems to be accomplished more successfully by attractive actors playing sympathetic characters in sit-coms than by angry activists disturbing Dan from Waltham’s tender sensibilities at lunch. Attending same sex marriage ceremonies also helps.
because I think you’re criticizing us for showing up to the fight. We’re doing our best to be heard on our own terms but I’m clearly not getting through to a friend of our movement.
Kiss-In’s draw media attention, though they have always had downsides because tens of millions think our love is “icky.” We do them anyway. We were getting shut out of a debate that wrongly focused on corporate rights of free speech instead of propagation of homophobia. We’ve gotten some media on our own terms, which is the larger, longer-term strategy toward the objective of ending homophobia. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation called for the kiss-in’s and they didn’t consult me beforehand anymore than they did you.
Maybe standing up in the face of Mike Huckabee’s clever exploitation of this controversy was joining a fight we weren’t going to win. He mocked our kiss-in’s. But we haven’t given up. This fight is not over, and we intend to win–but not by the device of tactical retreats which leave homophobia unchallenged.
If the “war” is to end homophobia, then each episode like this is a battle. In my view, “strategy” is something you do to win a war. “Tactics” are something to win (or choose) a battle. This was the wrong battle and has been fought with the wrong tactics, from the beginning. The “kiss-in” made things worse, not better.
This confrontation with Chick-fil-a has cost the LGBT and strengthened its many enemies.
Fight the hate groups. Fight the abuse. Boycott the chain. THIS stuff has been a disaster for the LBGT movement — you may call it “strategy” or “tactics” however you like, I call it “LOSER”.
when we donned pink triangles to oppose Anita Bryant’s campaign to repeal the Dade County non-discrimination ordinance in 1977. They said our efforts had “backfired” and pointed to the vote totals which were roughly 210,000 to 89,000 against us. They were relatively sympathetic by the standards of the day, but we didn’t listen to them either. Our focus is more long-term.
Why don’t you take your feedback to the pages of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation’s web site. They called for the kiss-in’s in the first place, and I’m not sure how many LGBT organizational spokespeople are tuned into our discussion. I don’t think you’ll find many activists engaged in the movement who agree with you, but we appreciate your suppport all the same. Let’s not lose sight of the common ground here.
in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1990 when they trampled the Sacred Host, which Catholics believe is God. Cardinal O’Connor got lots of mileage out of that sacrilege, and movement spokespeople all over the country wailed in agony, as if we had any control over those angry young kids. That was a tactic I agree that was offensive, but ACT UP was nevertheless instrumental in bringing more effective AIDS treatments to the market by the mid-90’s. We lost that foolish skirmish, but overall lives were saved.
The big picture in the LGBT civil rights movement often looks different from snap perceptions. I see an unfinished trajectory which started with the founding of the Mattachine Society in 1950. We’ve come a long way in a short time, historically speaking, though we’ve gotten plenty of feedback along the lines of what MLK heard sitting in that Birmingham jail.
I found this clip from the 70’s.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2xZTPA9JNi0