Amid widespread criticism of their efforts, the No on 8 Campaign has promised an independent investigation into why their campaign failed. Well, “promise” may be too strong a word. According to L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center CEO Lori Jean, the report will be released someday, by persons yet to be decided and even then, it probably won’t be released to the public because it might be damaging.
Queerty says, “Why wait?” We listened very carefully to the No on 8 Campaign’s virtual town hall last week (you can listen to it yourself here) as well as the many people from outside the campaign who have criticized the campaign and have come up with a forward thinking road map for marriage equality, which we present here, no consultant’s fee asked:
Somebody has to be in charge.
It’s astounding that a campaign which seemed so insular from the outside was so dysfunctionally egalitarian within. The structure of the No on 8 campaign consisted of a giant committee that then went on to elect an Executive Committee (EC). No on 8 leaders decided that groups or persons who significantly contributed to the campaign ought to have a place on the EC, handing out seats as quickly as a non-profit community theatre.
This was a mistake and it’s no surprise that the campaign’s hired strategist’s asked the EC to create a “Mini Executive Committee” to handle decisions. It’s also no surprise that none of the No on 8 Campaign leaders have taken responsibility for the loss when it’s clear there was nobody in charge. Asked about field operations at the virtual town hall, Geoff Kors, head of Equality California said he couldn’t speak to how it was run as he wasn’t the one responsible for running it, despite the fact that he was in the executive committee. Farming out the job to someone else doesn’t absolve you of responsibility.
Future marriage efforts must have a single person serve as campaign manager and chief executive of the effort. This person can be held accountable and fired if they do a poor job, but a campaign where everybody is in charge is really a campaign with nobody in charge.
How about we take this to the next level?
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The leaders of the No on 8 Campaign must have a place in future marriage equality efforts.
There are those out there who want to burn down the house and rebuild the gay community from scratch. There are compelling reasons to do this. The leadership of the gay community has been myopic in their reach and in their focus on fundraising at the expense of outreach. Even now, gay leaders seem unaware of just how much the community’s support for them has ebbed.
That said, Geoff Kors, Lori Jean and the rest of the No on 8 Campaign have dedicated themselves to helping the gay community and they have begun to acknowledge that their were plenty of tactical mistakes made on their part. If gay leaders are willing to listen to the community and adapt to its needs, they should continue to have a place at the table. But we realize that’s a big “if”.
The No on 8 leadership must not lead the next equality battle.
Despite the good intentions of No on 8 leaders, the campaign they ran was flawed not just tactically but strategically as well. Campaign leaders rebuffed advice and aid from minority groups and they relied on big money strategists rather than tapping into the grassroots communities where campaigns are won. The attitude that marriage equality could be won through checkbooks instead of door-knocking is deeply flawed. Beyond the outdated political styles, there’s the practical fact that the gay activists on the street and the net will not join an equality campaign run by existing No on 8 leadership.
If unity is truly important to the campaign leaders they will let new leadership, as Lori Jean herself said at an L.A. rally, “take the torch”.
Put the kids in charge.
It’s a pretty good sign you’re out of touch when your “virtual town hall” is Windows only. Young gay activists are already in the process of reshaping the gay community and they’re both motivated and plugged-in. As AIDS Healthcare founder Michael Weinstein told the L.A. Weekly:
“Young people weren’t a part of the debacle. They have the energy, and the future is about them. But it doesn’t mean they intrinsically know what to do. Now we have a chance to do something different because the A-gays failed. We can make something better.”
There are compelling reasons to do this besides the fact that younger gays understand YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. For a younger generation that grew up with far more images of gays and lesbians in everyday life, the question of equality is framed as part of a larger civil rights struggle. They are less ghettoized than older gays and lesbians and therefore it’s easier for them to reach out to a wider and more diverse community for support.
As the Obama campaign demonstrated, young people are extremely motivated to take part in civic life, so long as they feel empowered to make a difference. This attitude will benefit not just young people but all who wish to take part in the fight for equality.
Get in people’s faces.
The virtual town hall with Prop 8. leaders ended with Lori Jean questioning the wisdom of starting a new ballot initiative to overturn Prop. 8 until after the Supreme Court rules because she doesn’t want to give the court a reason to “punt” the decision to the voters in 2010. She then pointed out that we have never won a ballot proposition and that ultimately, it is the courts who will provide us with equality.
It’s a really frustrating thing to hear from someone who is supposed to be a leader of passing a ballot initiative. If there’s that level of complacency at the highest levels of the gay community, there’s absolutely no chance we ever will win a ballot proposition. The idea that civil rights will be granted by the courts inevitably is foolhardy. The idea that gays and lesbians should bide their time until that day is even more so. No civil rights movement has won by asking politely for their equality sometime in the future when it’s convenient for everyone else.
The gay community needs to be fearless in its pursuit of equal rights. It must insist on it as not just a legal right, but a moral one as well. This means being impolite. This means being visible on a regular basis and not just in the safety of the gay community. It means judicious boycotts. It means making homophobia socially unacceptable. What it means is that the fight for equal rights will be waged at the front door of our society instead of in the backrooms of power. It is a bigger fight, but it is the only way to win.
We must make the case to everybody.
The No on 8 campaign failed to energize its base and to reach out to ethnic and rural communities. As Rev. Eric Lee suggested during the Town Hall, future leaders must go to civil rights and religious leaders in Black and Latino communities and enlist their aide. Not all religious leaders should be written off and while there is value to protesting outside the church, there is also value in sitting down and having conversations with church leaders. There will always be people who reflexively hate and fear gay people, but we must be willing to win over at least some of them if we hope to win.
That means finding allies in places that were ignored this time– in communities of color, in rural places and in the church. The leaders of the No on 8 campaign represent a small portion of the gay community. It’s time to give the rest of us a voice.
The gay community must clearly state what its goals are.
As we’ve suggested before, the gay community ought to draft a Declaration of Equality to define their goals, not just for their own benefit, but for all Americans as well. The gay community needs a large public symbol that can be used to dispel a lot of the bigoted lies that have been used against marriage equality. This includes making a clear distinction between legal marriage and religious marriage. It should demand equal rights in all fifty states and it should be clear about the fact that marriage equality advocates will continue to protest and boycott peacefully until gays and lesbians are afforded the same status as straight people.
In January, gay leaders from around the country are scheduled to meet to discuss what to do next. It’s an opportunity to start anew that shouldn’t be passed up. The meeting ought to include not just traditional gay rights leaders, it should be open to all civil rights leaders wishing to attend. It ought to invite not only the young, but also include a way for all people to participate, either through online discussions or webcasts of the meetings. There is no drawback to enlisting more aid and to being transparent.
The passage of Prop. 8 and the resulting protests and boycotts have captured tha attention of the nation. Now it’s time for us to step up to the microphone and tell the world what happens now.
Gregoire
Most of all, they need to be pro-active, not retroactive.
1) Stop attacking Mormons. They’ll never change their minds. Next time around, if they come back holding a big gun, make sure you have a bigger gun by….
2) Educating people. Explain in clear terms what this means, not only to gay, but to voters. Through every means possible.
3) Get over divisive internal bullshit and stand behind each other. I sware, the biggest enemy of the gay community is the gay community. I’ve seen so many gay committees and organizations lapse into inaction by the lamest bullshit. Keep your eyes UNITED on the prize, and when we win these rights, re-form and find new goals.
4) Understand the big picture and place the rights of gays square in the middle of it. It’s our world too. Let’s stop acting like a minority and as part of the living, breathing community.
5) Re-invent for the 21st Century. As was mentioned above, include and absorb the ideas of the next generation. There are new, fresh, convincing ways to protest. FIND THEM. You can’t expect the community to progress if you don’t do it yourself.
Cgone
@Gregoire:
And Japhy –
Great analysis. So glad to read that from you! Now lets get to work!!
Bob
Lorri Jean has always had Lorri Jean’s best interests at heart. She’ll never release a report showing she’s useless. Of course, she’s on a month-long trip to Hawaii right now (her annual outing), followed up by a three-month sabbatical because she’s so exhausted from fucking up the no on 8 campaign. Useless. She should resign.
rottweilertom.blogspot.com
Hired one person and let him run it:
Arthur Finkelstein! or at least some conservative Rovian pollster/media consultant –
You know there are Riovian types who would have taken control of course, a consulting fee is a consulting fee
Liberace
Future marriage efforts must have a single person serve as campaign manager and chief executive of the effort.
Except they’ll waste tremendous energy trying to fill it with the ‘perfect’ lesbian of color rather than someone who can actually do the job.
ggreen
Absolutely we MUST stop attacking Mormons; they are the REAL victims here. The Mormons quietly practice their religion and want to be left alone to do it in peace. We must treat them with respect and dignity so they can come back in a bigger force to fight dirty again.
Gregoire
Trying to change the Mormons and whining about the Mormons won’t do a damn thing anymore. It’s a waste of energy. You’re never going to change their belief systems.
Focus on the other 98.5% of the American population. Don’t try to push the Mormons off the rug; pull the rug out from under them.
Change the dynamic of how marriage and gay rights are discussed in this country. Go mainstream, not cultish. Create an argument where straight people and parents should be frightened for gays and lesbians NOT to have marriage rights. Throw out the ineffectual protest and education vehicles of the past and take lessons from how the Obama campaign was run.
DairyQueen
This Campaign was run just like Prop 22 (DOMA) back in 2000. And we lost that one too. We do need new young blood in on the campaigns. Obviously the old guard is not and still not getting it.
Dick Mills
One thing that must be addressed when determining what the ‘No On 8’ campaign did wrong is what the other side did right. And, I think it really comes down to one thing. Their MO is that everything can be spun, and they did that very well. It is advantageous to lack morals when attempting to spin everything, but that has never been a problem for that side. It also helps (when spinning something) that the spinning group be fairly nimble in their response. A massive committee is never going to be very nimble.
The one thing, though, that always trumps “spin” is when it is countered with the truth. And, that is what we didn’t do very effectively. The case in point is the “think of the school children” cry from those lying liars. Within a week, we had ads up showing the truth behind the other side’s lies, and mistakenly thought that the question was decided.
Then within days the lying liars threw up ads showing school children attending a wedding at SF City Hall, and with the tag line that the administrators of the school considered this field trip to be a “teachable moment”.
So, what did our side do? We threw up our hands and said, “FUCK, WE’RE SCREWED,” never connecting the dots, that the truth always trumps SPIN! Of course, our side had already made the ill-fated decision that highlighting lesbians and gays would not benefit the cause of same-sex marriage (which arguably is STUPID).
But, that decision effectively barred them from countering with the FACT that the parents of each of those children GAVE THEIR PERMISSION to allow their children to attend the WEDDING OF THEIR TEACHER. And Why? Because it was a HISTORIC EVENT that their children could witness first hand.
We could have highlighted the fact that the “Yes on 8” group is totally unconcerned with the parent’s rights to govern the lives of their own children. But, we didn’t! We failed to realize that EVERYTHING CAN BE SPUN, and that WE CAN TRUMP THEIR SPIN WITH THE TRUTH! And, even if we had, we would have tripped over our big clumsy committee trying to do it.
echoecho
What about this, as a start for the list of goals:
Civil Rights Front.
Leland Frances
MUCH to applaud in your essay, but there are huge holes in it through which all the sense it makes can drain out if not plugged.
1. Repeat after me: the actual POWER of the “YouTube, Facebook and MySpace blah blah blah” universe is so overestimated that it licks the lips of myth. Yes, they added to the sizzle of Obama’s campaign, but the steak was still meat ‘n potatoes face-to-face campaigning both literal.
While Pew Research found “the percent who say they get most of their campaign news from the Internet has tripled since October 2004,” it still tops out at only 33%. In other words, two out of three voters do NOT get their campaign information from the Net. And those who do are primarily getting it from the online versions of traditional media: TV networks, newspapers, and magazines. NOT the various circle jerk sites, er, excuse me, social networking sites.
“Social networking sites are very popular with young people, but they have not become a major source of news. Just 10% of those with social networking profiles say they regularly get news from these sites.” – Pew
2. Even if they were as influential as many dream—rather than merely a cyber variation on preaching to the choir—the chief problem remains not the medium but the message. That is, as you quoted AIDS Healthcare founder Michael Weinstein:
“Young people … have the energy, and the future is about them. But it doesn’t mean they intrinsically know what to do.”
Singular Exhibit A: On the Friday night after the election, after several hours, the San Francisco Prop H8TE protesting crowd of thousands eventually dwindled to maybe 300 sitting down in the intersection of 18th & Castro. What were they cheering, shooting cellphone pix of? First a middle-aged grotesque in Wonder Woman Goes Disco drag. “She” was rattling on and on with all the bumper sticker/easy crowd-pleasing phrases like, “Not gay rights but HUMAN rights.” Before anyone fires back, “But it was people like her that started Stonewall,” first, it, in fact, wasnt’, and, second, is THAT the kind of “real gay” you would have wanted in anti 8 commercials.
But the capper, still raising whoops of approval from the college-age crowd, was when, much to Wonder Woman’s frozen-face horror, four middle-aged Sisters of Perpetual Exhibitionism pushed their way through the crowd and stole the show from her. They proceeded to mock marry two lesbians as cameras, including from TV stations, captured it all.
JUST what we needed. Political parasites parading their pathological need for attention at all cost to all of us.
Leland Frances
MUCH to applaud in your essay, but there are huge holes in it through which all the sense it makes can drain out if not plugged.
1. Repeat after me: the actual POWER of the “YouTube, Facebook and MySpace blah blah blah” universe is so overestimated that it licks the lips of myth. Yes, they added to the sizzle of Obama’s campaign, but the steak was still meat ‘n potatoes face-to-face campaigning both literal.
While Pew Research found “the percent who say they get most of their campaign news from the Internet has tripled since October 2004,” it still tops out at only 33%. In other words, two out of three voters do NOT get their campaign information from the Net. And those who do are primarily getting it from the online versions of traditional media: TV networks, newspapers, and magazines. NOT the various circle jerk sites, er, excuse me, social networking sites.
“Social networking sites are very popular with young people, but they have not become a major source of news. Just 10% of those with social networking profiles say they regularly get news from these sites.” – Pew
2. Even if they were as influential as many dream—rather than merely a cyber variation on preaching to the choir—the chief problem remains not the medium but the message. That is, as you quoted AIDS Healthcare founder Michael Weinstein:
“Young people … have the energy, and the future is about them. But it doesn’t mean they intrinsically know what to do.”
Singular Exhibit A: On the Friday night after the election, after several hours, the San Francisco Prop H8TE protesting crowd of thousands eventually dwindled to maybe 300 sitting down in the intersection of 18th & Castro. What were they cheering, shooting cellphone pix of? First a middle-aged grotesque in Wonder Woman Goes Disco drag. “She” was rattling on and on with all the bumper sticker/easy crowd-pleasing phrases like, “Not gay rights but HUMAN rights.” Before anyone fires back, “But it was people like her that started Stonewall,” first, it, in fact, wasnt’, and, second, is THAT the kind of “real gay” you would have wanted in anti 8 commercials.
But the capper, still raising whoops of approval from the college-age crowd, was when, much to Wonder Woman’s frozen-face horror, four middle-aged Sisters of Perpetual Exhibitionism pushed their way through the crowd and stole the show from her. They proceeded to mock marry two lesbians as cameras, including from TV stations, captured it all.
JUST what we needed. Political parasites parading their pathological need for attention at all cost to all of us.
Univeral Exhibit B: As I’ve posted before, many continue to treat Amy “Impact” as a new voice for Stonewall 2.0; a sage even at 26. This, despite the fact that she’s told interviewers that we should leave the Mormons alone and that she believes churches SHOULD decide what to “call” OUR relationships. Bitch doesn’t even understand that she is de facto SUPPORTING Prop H8TE!
And what’s her idea for a followup to the first “Impact” demos, impressive ONLY for their size and widespread occurence—NOT, because of where they were held, accomplishing anything by letting off steam: “A Day Without A Gay” whose ludicrousness begins with its name and ends with the fact that its “impact” is entirely impossible to document. If a demonstrator falls in the forest and there’s no one around is there a noise?
Or is Ms. Amy ALL noise?
3. Demos focusing on homophobic Mormons [which should be expanded to at least include homophobic Catholics like SF’s Archbishop who conspired with them to pass 8] is not with the fantasy of changing THEIR minds but with the purpose of identifying to others that their insistence on imposing their RELIGIOUS belief on CIVIL life is A. bigotry, and B. not to be countenanced.
If it has the added benefit of shaming or frightening some of them into not repeating their actions, all the better.
J
You say gay leaders are meeting in January?
Where? When? Who are these people? Is the conference completely open?
Japhy Grant
@J: We don’t know the details yet, but are hoping to find out soon. We’ll pass along the info as soon as we do.
Charles Merrill
NYC AIDS day event. Only 100 showed up. We won’t see real hard core activism until next year at tax time (April 15th) when the 18,000 married couples refuse to file income tax headed by Melissa Etheridge and Ellen.
Leland Frances
Uh, exactly when did Ellen “Sorry, I Can Only Spare $100K of my $70 Million to fight 8 cause I’m busy protecting duckies & horseys” NotSoGeneres commit to becoming a tax protester?
St. Francis of a-sissy
@Japhy Grant: God, I hope there’s a White Party to go along with it. Otherwise, count me out…
M Shane
The ‘gay movement ‘ in what pathetic form it has taken needs to throw away every thing written or thought since Sulivan and Bawer trashed evrything that existed of the gay liberation movement, which was and is authentic Sulivan wrote”We can never be totally other when we are also totally mainstream.”. Mainstream my ass. We are a minority who need to organize as a separate group.
Charles Merrill
Leland Francis
Ellen knew that NoOnProp8 organizers were inept. That’s why she spent 100K of her own and did it her way. Just wait. You queens sitting back sewing AIDS quilts ain’t seen nothing yet.
Roland Basque
think it’s really cool to be anti-gay.I mean what does “gay” entail?Is it about a beligerent whining bunch of over-demanding heterophobes trying to advance their own intolerant and narcissistic agenda?Everyone I know enjoys mimicking and making sport of the self absorbed nebbish twits who consider themselves candidates for veneration just because they are so called gay.Nobody really likes queers they just consider them material for great comedy.Proposal 8 won by a majority vote.
Dick Mills
@Roland Basque: Also, I bet you don’t use the word “gay” opting instead for something more colorful like “faggot” don’t you. You probably also like using the n-word for another minority group. And, you are the biggest reason that we have a chance at winning in court. You see, the court ruled that bigots like you have vilified us to such an extent that we are a suspect class. So, keep it up! We appreciate all of the support we can get.
Bruno
@Gregoire:
As to statement one…it’s not really about changing the minds of Mormons…it’s letting them know that there are consequences to their actions and that they can’t get away with claiming they’re not discriminating. Attacking? I wouldn’t support that either.
Great article.
Bruno
@Dick Mills:
Basquephobia: It does a body good.
Chip
Charles Blow wrote what I think is a great op-ed piece in the NYTimes a week or so ago. Check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/opinion/29blow.html?scp=7&sq=Charles%20Blow&st=cse
konrad
The biggest flaw in the “investigation” is the refusal to consider that the campaign was not fucked up. One of the things on the table needs to be the campaign didn’t lose because of strategic or management mistakes — its just that most people (or most people in California) don’t believe in gay marriage. (like in that famous line of a defeated Senate candidate: “The people have spoken — the bastards!”). Pretending most people agree with us but just need the right TV ad or voter turnout campaign is limiting this investigation.
Second suggestion — If we are appealing to the whole electorate, this is not a project of the GLBT community. Straight people who support marriage should be in the leadership, middle management and base of the effort. Gays talking to ourselves won’t win it.
RCDC
konrad – 4% is swingable. look what’s happened since 2000. people’s minds are being changed. when all people know is fear and untruths, you really think they’ll vote the more daring way? of course not. i don’t agree with an earlier poster that truth always beats spin. it doesn’t, not when people really want to believe the spin. but the people who aren’t super invested one way or the other? yeah, we can get them.
Tom Lockwood
I just got the latest letter from EQCA (Equality California) requesting money, this time for the 2010 campaign to repeal Prop 8. My response was that I dodn’t have any more money to give them, having spent it all in opposing Prop 8. Until Geoffrey Kors resigns from EQCA, and until whoever is running the show can articulate what our strategy for 2010 will be, they’ll not get a dime from me.