As members of the gay-hating Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather in Salt Lake City for the well-attended annual conference, gay activists on the ground aren’t planning a massive protest rally, despite those reports. Instead, they’re planning a “General Service Weekend,” which is as much as “come out and volunteer and do good” effort as it sounds.
“People have been calling and asking if we were going to protest general conference weekend, but we don’t feel that there is a need to protest the church any further right now,” organizer and gay-rights advocate Jacob Whipple said. “But we wanted to seize all that energy and do something productive.”
It was Whipple who launched the protest in Salt Lake City that brought thousands to Temple Square just days after California passed Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in the Golden State. Now he and others have worked hard to coordinate a number of service projects in Salt Lake, Weber and Davis counties that will take place April 4-5.
[…] Whipple expects 50 to 100 volunteers in Ogden and another 300 to 500 in Salt Lake City to help tackle projects including park cleanups, maintenance at the Road Home, gardening work for Utah G.A.R.D.E.N.S., classroom maintenance at Head Start, and making visits to refugee families to uncover certain needs they may have and later bringing donations to them that will have been collected that weekend. [Desert News]
Jeff
UGH Yeah! That will show em!
No wonder we always lose and no one takes us seriously. They work to take away your rights and are totally against us. So we’ll do good deeds and it’ll change their minds?
GROW A PAIR WILL YOU!
They are NEVER GOING TO CHANGE THIER MINDS.
Even if we did Protest. But at least if we protest we make a statement that can be seen.
Jesus Christ
Kary
How useless. BURN, BABY BURN! I’m 64 years old, and I am sick of pussy faggots not taking to the streets! MY generation knew how to get shit done…..you pussies DESERVE to be second class citizens. Jesus Fucking Christ! I live in DC and I haven’t seen a college student with a sing in 8 fucking years. We gay people DESERVE the goddam second-class status we have because we PUT THE FUCK UP WITH IT! BURN SOMETHING DOWN, GODDAMMIT!
Zach
I’m not sure we should be dragging generations into it, Kary. Then you’ll be forced to concede that it’s members of your generation who routinely halt the advancement of marriage equality, the repeal of DADT, and the general establishment of gay people as dignified human beings who deserve access to the means that everyone else has in pursuit of happiness.
Jeff
Oh Zachie you cannot make a blanket statement like that without going into details. members of Kary’;s generation are the ones who stated it all. Without him and his you’d be unable to dance with another man ANYWHERE without being throw in jail. Do some Gay Histoiry research before you spout misconceptions like that.
Mattbydesign
@Kary:
So basically you want us to be the gay KKK? WOO Doggy, we’re gonna lynch us some straight folk tonight! Seriously is that what you would have us do? You want us to become terrorists in our own country, making a demand for acceptance while we hold a match to a church?
I may be a “pussy faggot” but you are a senile retard. Get with the program, grandpa, the victim mentality of the ’60’s and ’70’s is quickly becoming pointless. You aren’t going to win anything by marching around in front of churches chanting “poor little old me” anymore. Now you have to beat them at their own game,
Jeff
Mattbydesign thier own game isn’t planting flowers.
Mattbydesign
@Jeff:
That is not the only thing I am talking about. How about we donate to efforts more than just Prop 8? there are a few states coming for a Marriage Ban vote at the mid-terms, why not donate or volunteer for those state? Why can’t we legislate OUR morality?
as for your comment #4:
Being of that generation and actually taking part in the struggle are totally different things. Who know, maybe Kary is just riding on a violent coat tail of one of his peers.
Zach
@Jeffie
Having initially ventured that dragging generations into the discussion to be unhelpful, I proceeded to note quite accurately that members (as opposed to the entirety) of the older generation routinely support anti-gay laws. Younger people tend to support gay rights. If activists of yesteryear were truly as revolutionary and effective as Kary would us to think, I would like him to account for this discrepancy.
I was reacting to a severe critique of my generation, who do good work at places like jointheimpact.com, as “pussy faggots.” There’s your blanket statement and misperception to take exception with, as I’m quite sure you do.
strumpetwindsock
@Jeff:
True (and I get frustrated myself about how complacent people can be nowadays), but that’s no excuse for verbal abuse and nonsense like “burn something down”?
If Kary wants to commit arson why can’t s/he do it and get busted for it? Did someone take his/her matches away?
If you want something done… do it. Don’t complain about it.
Kary
“burn something down” is a metaphor. Planting flowers is literal. And I DID something…I sacrificed a lover, hundreds of friends and colleagues to AIDS(I’m in the performing arts), and I sewed quilts, and I attended candlelight vigils, and I wrote my representatives and I marched and I threw red paint on the CDC building (look it up). What have YOU done, sweetheart? I’m exhausted. You young motherfuckers need to get off you sorry faggot young asses and do something. And planting flowers ain’t it.
strumpetwindsock
@Zach:
I don’t think it’s true that older people are necessarily more conservative (though your perspective certainly changes).
I have heard a a fair bit of spooky, and creepy right-wing attitudes come out of the mouths of kids (with the difference that people nowadays seem to act a lot more entitled and self-centred – but then again who taught them that?).
But there certainly is a gulf of understanding between the young and the old; and more than enough mudslinging from both sides.
Though from what I have seen, 64 ain’t that old, and the only excuse for not doing anything is when you are in a box. I know people in their 70s who are more active, committed to change and work harder than some 20-year-olds.
Jeff
All that said is true, But there is nothing wrong with returning to the roots of activism. Protests and Marches made great strides got the GLBT Community and to flippantly say that that doesn;t work anymore when no one has been doing it is a bit off the mark.
Yes Kary came on strong. People are angry. Especially older GLBT people who have fought the fight long and hard and still to this day do not have equal rights.
Personally I do not belive that the “be nice tactic” will work. Why would it? You can not erase religious doctrine or change the minds of bigoted people with good deeds. Do you REALLY THINK that regular church members are going to say: “Oh look how nice. Maybe these Homosexuals aren’t so bad after all so we’ll rise up against the Church Leaders and and tell them they must change their gay hating ways?”
I don;t think that will happen.
Its always been my opinion that You need to stand up and be counted. You need to fight. You need to protest. You need to show the people that oppress you that you are strong and are not going to take it anymore. You need to prove to them that you are not weak.
But thats just me.
Zach
@Strumpet
Well, sure, and I wouldn’t claim that old people are NECESSARILY more conservative. I’m only discussing what polls show regarding the attitudes people entertain, and how they vote. These do show, like it or not, that many older people vote against us and view us as immoral. You may call into question the accuracy or legitimacy of the polls, but not their existence. I can provide links to this research, if there’s genuine doubt concerning it.
I, for one, have a wonderfully supportive grandmother who, hysterically, tries to find me boyfriends by watching daytime television. She is not, by her own admission, completely typical of her generation.
In regards to strategies for the advancement of the much discussed gay agenda, one of the best ways to change minds is simply to be out. Which I am. So no name-calling or drama needed from anyone, thank you.
strumpetwindsock
@Kary:
If you’re frustrated about inaction, fine.
But insulting people and telling them they deserve to be abused is not really the best way to induce them to pick up the torch.
This is not a pissing war, Kary. It sounds like you’ve done a respectful bit of work, and I try to do what I can as well (though I stopped vandalizing buildings in my late teens). Does this really come down to laying our resumes out on the table to see who has the biggest one, or is the point to get the job done?
strumpetwindsock
@Zach:
I hope you don’t think I was calling you names, because that wasn’t my intention. And yes, I know that older people (older males in particular, actually) tend to have more conservative views.
But it is also true that young people are a bit further to the right and less concerned for our community than they were a generation or so ago.
I wasn’t trying to say that old people are “better” than young or vice versa – quite the opposite. Old people are generally have more experience (which is not the same as wisdom)… but SOME can also be a lot less opem to change, and bitter.
I was merely saying that there is a lot of prejudice from both sides, most of which is baseless, and none of which helps us change anything
Zach
@Strumpet
No, the name-calling bit was not at all directed at you. =)
Mattbydesign
@Kary:
So, my “young faggot ass” is worthless for volunteering to take meals to people like you dying of AIDS? My “young faggot ass” is worthless because I help out at a community center to make sure other “young faggot asses” don’t kill themselves because their families disowned them? My “young faggot ass” is worthless because I am in DC every single year lobbying my reps in person?
Don’t play that game, honey. I did more in my 4 years in college than most in your generation have done in their lifetime.
Kary
Matt: You need to read a little gay history, and maybe you should see MILK, and maybe you should get some perspective….and respect… for the generation whose shoulders your young faggot ass is standing on. Can you say Stonewall? Can you say ACT UP? What you are doing is admirable, but my point is this: we are still second class citizens…and I haven’t seen a faggot protest this year in DC, have you? Or last year, or the year before, or before, or before. Oh, yes…the LAST one I remember, I was in….l991…around the White House. I repeat: Time to burn something down. (It’s a metaphor, Precious.) We don’t have an MLK, and frankly, I don’t think we need one. We need some torches and some anger. You think the GOP and the hate-filled Christian hypocrites are going to give us anything? And I’m starting to wonder about Obama. I voted for him for many reasons, not the least of which was his commitment to eliminate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. (I’m a Vietnam Veteran (drafted) and my deceased lover was a Colonel in the US Army. Obama is now going to “consult” the fucking Generals? He’s the Commander-in-Chief! Clinton already fucked us on this issue, and I am not going to go plant flowers and HOPE Obama keeps his word. No, sir, Missy. No, sir.
Mattbydesign
@Kary:
If you knew anything about DADT you would know that the actual repeal of it is up to Congress, not the President.
What makes you so confident that I know nothing about gay history? This “young faggot ass” knows some history, has done his research, and seen Milk.
You need to get over yourself. Times have changed. We may be at a social disadvantage but we aren’t faceless anymore. And just because I am only 24 doesn’t mean I am stupid, lazy, or disinterested in the cause of gay rights. How can I rest on my laurels when my generation is killing themselves, engaging in harmful behavior, and starting the AIDS epidemic all over again? Huh?
So, Grandpa, go live in the past with your victim mentality because “the good old days were so much better”. I have real issues to deal with: like equal rights, the spread of HIV, bigotry, and our young people killing themselves.
You say I should respect my elders. How can I when my elders show me no respect by calling me a “young faggot ass”, or dismissing me as lazy and stupid?
Kary
DADT is a DOD regulation. It is not a “law”. The Commander in Chief can do anything he so wishes with a regulation. I did not write nor imply that you are stupid or lazy or disinterested in AIDS causes. I stated clearly that I believe that planting flowers (literally and symbolically) is not going to get any attention or get us our rights. I don’t know you personally and have directed none of my anger at you personally….it was directed at your generation. I am certainly no victim. The following is directed at you personally: You need to read more carefully and comprehend better. You seem to be the one that needs “to get over yourself”. I’ve produced more AIDS benefits and raised more money for the cause than you or I will make in our life times. I have earned the right to be just as angry as I choose to be. And if your peers choose to kill themselves because they have learned nothing from my generation’s deaths and sacrifices, it is very hard for me to give a shit. Maybe it’s because they feel no self-worth…..because they’re second-class citizens…which was my first point.
Dabq
Why not? So tough, loud, out and proud the day after Prop 8 and the backing of this cult, and, now a respectful silence on the day they swap their magic underwear, ugh.
strumpetwindsock
@Kary:
I don’t know why you are being so mean to people who are on your side, and frankly, I don’t know why you are being so disrespectful of the dead.
I don’t care how big a sacrifice you made; you do that out of the goodness of your heart to make a better world, or you do it for nothing at all. You certainly don’t do it so you can abuse and lord it over young people you are supposed to be mentoring.
My grandma used to use boogeyman stories too – about the depression – to get me to eat my cabbage.
Young people don’t owe you or me a damn thing, and like it or not it will be up to them to carry on the fight when you and I are gone.
And if you don’t want people to use age to discriminate against us, don’t use it as an excuse.
If there’s something you see that is not being done – quit complaining, cut the drama, and just do it.
Mattbydesign
@Kary:
My peers are the future of the gay rights movement you say you love so deeply, by not caring if they commit suicide because of social pressure then you are saying you don’t care about the future of gay rights period.
Past methods of activism don’t always remain relevant to later times. Would Booker T. Washington’s methods and arguments have flown is the 1960’s?
And no where did I say that planting flowers during this event was the best course of action. Though, I do think community service is a valuable tool. you need to realize that there are more ways to promote a cause than to march and shout and hold fundraisers. The best way is to be a living example of what you believe in. Calling your compatriots in this fight, those who believe the same as you, “young faggot asses” and accusing a whole generation of people of complacency is hardly being an example of anything worth of ascribing to.
A plurality of methods is what is needed to truly achieve equal rights. protests have their place but so does community service. Take for example the methods espoused by MLK and Malcolm X. MLK preached peaceful demonstrations, political activism, and community service, while Malcolm X was more confrontational, espousing violence when necessary, and indicting whites for racism. The civil rights movement would have failed if both methods had not worked together. the same will happen in our case.
I am not going to keep playing the “who has done more” game, as we have both done more than our fair share. I think the lesson that needs to be learned is that in order for the rest of the world to consider us equal, we must first consider ourselves equal to each other.
Kary
Matt: I was wrong. I apologize. My language was offensive, and I regret having used it. Not an excuse, but yesterday was a very frustrating day at the office, and I was venting in an inappropriate way at the wrong person…you.
Breath. Thank you for the work you do. It is admirable and sadly, in my limited view, rare.
You are right in your conclusion that all methods of activism must be used and tried. My personal temperament (surprise, surprise) would lie much more in the Malcom X camp.
Given the AIDS emergency (and “emergency” is an inadequate word for the infection rate in D.C.), it seems shocking that the outcry is not louder…that Mayor Fenty is only now coming out with action plans.
As for the Mormons, I am an atheist. I was never religious to begin with, but seeing how organized religion responded to AIDS in the 80’s and 90’s turned me into a vehement anti-religious bigot. I have no use for religion or its adherents. I feel that all religions are evil and the followers insane. But that’s just me.
Thank you for all you do. Please forgive my rudeness and language. As someone else pointed out, it is part of my job as a “senior” gay person to instruct, mentor, advise and set an example for younger gay folk. I failed in all those tasks yesterday.
strumpetwindsock
@Kary:
I can’t speak for Matt, but thanks. We all blow a gasket sometimes (me especially), but not everyone has the guts to admit it.
And as I said, I certainly understand your frustration.
Bob Marley
I think we should all go to an island in the ocean were we can practice our rights and let everyone else stay here.
Kary
I agree with you Bob. We should… Leave all the straight homos here and let them burn!
Mattbydesign
@Kary:
Sorry it took so long to reply, who new being laid off would take up so much of my time.
Thank you Kary. I apologize too for my harsh comments.
Tiffany
I don’t understand why people call LDS people haters just because they DISAGREE with the gay lifestyle! I am LDS and leaders of our church have NEVER said anything that would ever be considered hatred.They say it is ok to disagree with the gay lifestyle, but we are to treat EVERYBODY with love a respect. I don’t understand why people can not have different opinions without being considered hate mongers! I guess gay people are hate mongers because they aren’t straight????? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it???????