Serena will be thrilled with this piece.

Monday morning quarterbacking at its finest. Congratulations.

I'm looking at the JTI website (both of them) and I'm not seeing the dating sites or dancing penguins, which sucks because I could've gone for some dancing penguins right now.

What I do see is that JTI quickly learned that their strength was in getting the word out, not planning entire programs. In November while HRC was doing a spa weekend they picked up the ball that had been dropped, relying (on less than two days notice) on volunteers, many of whom had no protest/advocacy/whatever experience at all. There was a noticeable void and they filled it.

But that was a short term goal. Long term, they seem to be moving into a new role, partnering with the NGLTF, ACLU, and others to get the word out on the action from other organizations in ways that the elder organizations don't use. That would make more sense, given that they call themselves "Join The Impact".

Who knows, maybe JTI's role will continue to evolve once they pass the six-month mark. Maybe they'll answer the question Alex was asking last Thursday about coordination between advocacy groups.

Regardless, if you don't like the way they're doing it, don't just hang around until it's over so you can post an essay on what they should've done. Pick up the phone (there's got to be a way to translate that saying to email), get in touch with them, and get to work.

Now. I believe I was promised some dancing penguins. I shan't move until I get some dancing penguins.

Great piece, Elián. What you're describing here is one of the reasons I've turned away from the "Marriage Movement" even though in the lead-up to the election, I volunteered many, many hours to defeat Prop 8.

I've written previously here about my experiences with the No on 8 folks--their emphasis on fundraising to the detriment of grassroots action, their ongoing lack of interest in the special talents, experience and "movement memory" of volunteers, their failure to get out the vote on election day, their rebuff of the African American community, and--yes!--their disappointing, ineffectual ads.

For fostering that, professional political "organizers" were paid a huge amount of money. I've yet to read any names, although I admit, my lack of investment at this point means I'm not putting energy into researching it.

To that list of criticisms, could I add, now that Prop 8 has passed, racism, anti-radical/queer/trans sentiments expressed by too many pro-marriage advocates, and as you say here, near-total ignorance and/or rebuff of militant, non-violent organizing tactics and demonstrations?

A case in point: at the end of one post-Prop 8 demonstration in San Diego, organizers urged the crowd to "Thank the police" for not impeding, preventing or harassing the event. That's right: thank the police for allowing citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to assemble, redress grievances, and express free speech.

Think about that...Maybe we should provide a list of organizers and copies of all our computer hard-drives, too: just so the government doesn't have to monitor our phone calls and go to all that trouble of infiltrating our organizations?

At this point, the marriage issue in California is scheduled to be settled in the courts. If gays and lesbians are again denied the right to experience the perks of marriage, don't expect much progress from the Marriage Movement, unless this sort of deferential "insider attitude" is replaced by something more militant and grassroots.

You're anything but a "plebe", darling. If your deconstructionist talk hasn't clued you into the fact that you might be part of the same elite you deride, the part where you're a candidate for a "PhD" should get you started on that realization.

Lucrece, ad hominem attacks are a sign you have no argument.

Excellent post Elián. My only addition is say that much of what you’re waiting for will happen sooner rather than later because US society is cracking up. As the social and economic situation becomes harder to accept for millions thrown out or their homes and jobs, as the war drags on and as the panderer in the White House becomes more and more like Clinton people are undergoing a radicalization of huge proportions.

That's happened before, notably in 1775, 1860 and during the 1930's and 1960's. In the 30's it was aborted by the Japanese attack on the US. In the 1960's and '70's it failed to develop a mass base beyond students, African Americans and others. The unions remained quiescent for the most part.

We're entering a period that will be characterized by the crash of the economy increased poverty, government crackdowns and political polarization. It’s won’t be a repeat of the cosmetic differences and bickering between right centrists like McCain, Obama and their supporters but between the hard right and the hard left.

Unions and the labor movement as a whole have been under concerted attack by every president since Nixon and badly hurt. The chief victims of that process have been African American, Latino and imported workers who'll form the first bases from which the new radicalizing will be felt.

In many ways this is a reverse of the situation in the 1960's and '70's. Then ten years of war and racist attacks created a battle hardened, large, left wing leadership. With nowhere to go because it had no one to lead. Now there are people to lead and no one to lead them.

Building a fighting left wing for our communities, developing fighting alliances with labor and other groups will give us new chance for fundamental change. Key to that is discarding centrists and sellouts who accept Obama’s crumbs and building a nationwide fighting GLBT left.

Oye, Elián. Una pregunta: ¿Como eres Maricón. Y yo siendome Joto, hay posibilidad que somos primos? Sorry. Just had to ask.

Elián,
In the picture you provided, you look a lot like Zachary Quinto, who plays Skylar on "Heroes." He'll also be playing Spock in the new upcoming "Star Trek" movie. I hope you aren't offended by the comparison.

I've read many good comments here today. I like a few have stated, advocate the the need to put the focus, our energies, our people, and our time and money into a unified strategy for full civil rights under the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT. Acknowledged, explicitly stated, and codified. Through court fights, thru politcal avenues, thru organizing in throughout the country, going viral, through demonstrations and protests, it has all been covered here. This disparate, segmented, and fractious state by state fights, for each seperate right, only serves to argue, fight and blame one another. With all these different groups, in almost every single state, ranging from marriage rights, adoption rights, and trans health coverage rights, to pushing ENDA, to repealing DADT, to gay tax fairness, to how many more? The groundwork is there. The frame is there. The means are there. Each to work on their issue, but in the context of aiming for FULL CIVIL RIGHTS. I admit, this one person that I am, doesn't have all the answers . But, I do know that it seems that the National Orgs. aren't cutting it. Any idaes?

All the recounting of your Christ-like life does not need to be repeated twice. The story loses its pretentious feel after the first go.

Whether you like it or not, having been able to traverse the socioeconomic ladder makes you part of the elite. You still hold power and influence with your education, power and influence that a specific group of people will never be able to achieve (yes, surprising, there are people more disadvantaged than you, enough to prevent them from being socioeconomically mobile).

Being able to attend college and worry about books that interests you places you in an elite category. Especially if you consider how many people in the world do not get such an opportunity.

Elitism is not only about how much money you earn. It's about what you're able to achieve.

I could care less if you think I didn't like what you had to say. Quite frankly, what you have said is nothing special. It has already been discussed. You are right that I did not like something about your posts, however. For someone who has faced so much smugness in his life, you seem rather inclined toward being self-righteous, smug about those you deem as privileged. The resentment just oozes out of this post.

Ditto on what Yasmin said. And not to repeat any annoying "why don't you just get a job" (as Brynn so awesomely put it) sort of statements that I often receive when I post from people who don't know me or my work history from Adam, it does seem rather misdirected to spend time rallying against JTI, which isn't even an entity. It doesn't have much funding, I don't even know if they have paid staff, and they can easily be shoved aside for something more useful if anyone would just create that something more useful.

Instead they're a byproduct of people's sentiments at the time, and I don't really see them in a co-productive relationship with that sentiment, considering how many new resources like them popped up after prop 8 and yet they found themselves in the middle of all this noise. But I think the issues are deeper here than just what JTI is doing.

And don't worry about being called an elitist. Some days around here it seems like knowing anything at all gets you put in the elitist category. America's brand of know-nothingism hasn't escaped the queer folk at all, but, yeah, having a phd, no matter what your life story, is gonna make you an elitist. Sorry. :)

You might want to be baptized before attempting to live up to your divine expectations. Even then, I'm not sure whether you're getting the destination right; since by your own moral compass, being the bourgeois amounts to a deadly sin.

Besides, I doubt your forgiveness is enough for me to want to share heaven with your hypocritical kind. I'm quite content with the easy tan at that place assigned for fellow unrepentant perverts. Don't resent me for my staunch atheism~

P.S. What do you have against pissing? For a fag, you're pretty discriminating of the particular way we can baptize our own ;D.