I gotta say, there are moments when I really love our community. So much sass. So much, well, nominating the largest "LGBT" civil rights organization for San Francisco Pride's Pink Brick Award, intended to dishonor folks and organizations who set the movement back.
HRC is the first LGBT community organization to receive the nomination, since the award's founding in 2002. Only one other "LGBT-friendly" entity has been nominated before -- that entity being Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for publicly blaming San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's issuance of marriage licenses for the Democrats' loss in the 2004 election.
Others up for the Pink Brick Award this year include Bill O'Reilly and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!
Get the full story here.
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13 Comments
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Let them drink appletinis?
Kathy | February 29, 2008 12:52 PM
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How did Barney Frank miss not getting nominated along with HRC?
Monica Roberts | February 29, 2008 5:56 PM
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[EDITOR'S NOTE:] This comment has been removed for violating the Terms of Service agreement. -Bil
Sue Robins | February 29, 2008 7:11 PM
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It makes a whole lot of sense to include a GLBT organization along with the president of a country that murders people for being gay.
Or, is this just another example of the childish and "addicted to drama" mentality that infects our community?
Michael Crawford | March 1, 2008 8:34 AM
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So interesting seeing the difference between this blog and a certain gay male's blog. Over there, the announcement of the award was largely denounced and the argument digressed to ENDA and the "need" to go ahead without trans people for various reasons, including the tired incrementalism thesis as well as the unique position that "trans are not really gay."
As for me, like the Enrages of the French Revolution, I believe that anyone who denies another's rights is an oppressor, even within our own community. The argument was made that gays will die and suffer sans ENDA(no idea how that works, I am quoting. don't blame me) and better ENDA now than that. But if we work TOGETHER for a year or maybe three, all of us get included. Otherwise, trans will suffer and will die(HIV from sex work, suicide) unless we carry them with us, because they are the most vulnerable and most misunderstood.
All or none, and like Jaques Roux, I declare that anyone who denies that cause a reactionary and tyrant.
"We want our rights, and we don't care how. We want our Revolution...NOW"
MauraHennessey | March 1, 2008 9:42 AM
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What do the fat cat publicity hounds and fund raisers of the HRC have in common with Bill O'Reilly and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
They’ve all added notes to the steady drumbeat of hatred and bigotry. In an election year that’s going to take a higher toll on GLBT folks, especially youth. How many murders in February? How many beatings, how much harassment? How many of us denied jobs and housing?
Bill O'Reilly is a prostitute who does it for money. Ahmadinejad does it to deflect attention form the fact that the ayatollahs are increasingly corrupt, out of touch and repressive. Those are the kind of tawdry motives for gaybashing that we’re all too familiar with.
HRC’s gaybashing was different and much worse. They did a Benedict Arnold on us. And so did Barney Frank, Billarys campaign manager and other Democrats. Collectively they placed gay bashers on the bench, gutted ENDA and dropped it and the Matthew Sheppard Hate Crimes act. They left Clintons DADT and DOMA in place. They contributed to the climate of hatred and bigotry by demonstrating once again that in their eyes we’re second class citizens, unworthy of respect and protection from bigots and thugs.
Ask any Palestinian or Native American. Ask any African American or Irish person living in the English occupied north of Ireland. Being a second class citizen is dangerous.
Congratulations to the protesters that helped make the HRC fundraiser in New York a disaster. The self appointed ‘leaders’ of the GLBT communities stayed away in droves. It’s a modest but significant beginning of the kind of payback that people who ask us for votes and money and then stab us in the back will have to live with from now on
Bill Perdue | March 1, 2008 5:28 PM
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I think Barney Frank should be up there too as a nominee - but nothing tops the murder of children as Michael points out.
Bil Browning | March 1, 2008 5:55 PM
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Bil;
Our children are being murdered here, two in two weeks. Part of this is the hatred preached part of it is that we are percieved even by Congress as being only worthy of the crumbs of liberty from the table.
The Matthew Shepard Bill died, sacrificed to legislative "incrementalism" as far as the Dems flexing muscle. Congress will not say that killing us because we are who and what we are is wrong.
We were going to leave the trannies behind, letting all and sundry know that even we thought that they were unworthy of protections, and there realistically was not a chance that a trans-ENDA would pass after a G/L Enda for at least a decade.
The HRC worked with Congress on these bills, including on the strategy.
Since the Shepard bill died, three LGBT's that we know of, two of who are children, have died. Hundreds if not thousands of trans-people remain unemployed, homeless or both.
The HRC earned the Brick.
I am tired of LGBT's being murdered, being reduced to grueling poverty or forced into sex-work only to contract HIV, of the hopelessness that breeds suicide all while priviledged queers who can pay the 1000.00 plate per dinner for the HRC honour straight actress, and I am one of the priviledged, but I am not blind to what is happening to all of my brothers and sisters.
The HRC earned the Brick.
MauraHennessey | March 1, 2008 6:24 PM
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The simple fact is that we don't expect better from Ahmadinejad, but we're supposed to be able to expect better from HRC.
Really, who's more deserving: The bigot who commits his bigotry openly and directly or the one that claims to be supportive in public and commits their bigoted acts behind closed doors and in direct defiance of their promises to do precisely the opposite.
I would only change one thing: The brick should be awarded jointly to HRC and the Democratic Congressional leadership. Both are richly deserving of the honor.
Rebecca Juro | March 2, 2008 12:07 AM
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It's not just about who did the worst thing. Otherwise, why not nominate Hitler? We'd end up just giving the award to folks who perpetrated hate crimes of one kind or another. And that's just not what this award has been used for.
The award is about who did the most damage to our movement, who raised the most ire from our community. And myself, I can't think of any person or organization that's done more to set back my rights in the past year than the HRC. And it's hard to think of any who have inspired as much frustration and anger.
Tobi Hill-Meyer | March 2, 2008 3:51 AM
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Tobi,
You really can't think of any person or organization that has done more to set back your rights than HRC? How about the Republican Party which has consistently used GLBT issues as a wedge issue to divide the American people and gain political power? The GOP which has opposed the advancement of pro-GLBT legislation at every turn and has advocated an anti-gay amendment to the U.S. Constitution and has worked to pass anti-gay amendments to constitutions in more than half the states?
What about Watchmen on the Walls which is organizing across nations to advance an anti-GLBT agenda resulting in violence in numerous Eastern European countries and the murder of Satendar Singh?
What about Fred Phelps and the "God Hates Fags" who have picketed the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq claiming that their deaths were God's revenge for America's tolerance of homosexuality?
Michael Crawford | March 2, 2008 8:21 AM
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Michael C., you're forgetting the point of the award, which admittedly I did as well in my own post above, which is that it is to go to the person or persons who did the most damage to our movement or who raised the ire of our community the most.
Fred Phelps? C'mon, is there anyone on either side of the aisle who really takes him seriously as a threat? I don't think so, do you?
Also, we're talking about the American LGBT civil rights movement, so Watchmen on the Walls doesn't qualify for that reason.
The GOP? Sure they're against us, but they really didn't do much overtly this year. They didn't prevent the hate crimes bill from passing in both Houses of Congress, and they didn't even have to come out against ENDA or trans rights, Barney Frank and the Dem leadership stripped us from the bill without even waiting for the Republicans to make a move.
In addition, HRC not only supported those actions after promising not to do so, but proactively penalized Congressional Democrats who chose to stand on principle and for full inclusion by deducting points from their ratings on their Congressional scorecard for refusing to vote for the non-inclusive version.
No, the most real damage done to our movement this past year as well as the most anger generated within the community both came from the Democratic Party leadership and the Human Rights Campaign. For those reasons, they are clearly the most deserving of this award.
Rebecca Juro | March 2, 2008 11:20 AM
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Michael,
No, I really can't. The GOP's not changing that many minds. If Phelps is changing any minds, he's changing them to our side. Those folks are a constant at this point. The HRC used it's influence to turn a number of representatives against us who otherwise would have stood with us. They used their connections to prevent even the opportunity to vote on what's right. And they set a precedent that is making it harder to pass local rights protections and furthers the conceptualization that trans people are disposable.
Look at the waves that their actions are having throughout our communities and movements. Focus on the Family is not having that kind of impact.
Tobi Hill-Meyer | March 2, 2008 4:27 PM
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