[flv:http://www.ourscenetv.com/media/147/videos/5949941144a5cf5744ccce.flv https://queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com/2009/07/heathtuckerbug.jpg 600 320]
We’ll have seconds of Heath Tucker, please. We love nothing more than seeing young gays being proactive, knowledgeable of the roots folks like Harvey Milk laid out, and acting on it. You don’t need to be part of Gay Inc. to change minds, and Tucker is proof. After Prop 8 passed, he recognized an opportunity to mobilize. It started with his inner circle and, thanks to the magic of things like Facebook, ballooned into thousands of netroots activists following his lead. It’s the mini networks like Tucker’s that will drive change on the ground. We love that he wants to be a leader. We love that he wants to carry the torch. We love that he wants to enact change. And we love that he’s so humble about his efforts. We thank him. (via OurSceneTV)
Gavin
i love how he talks about americans not caring about things that do not affect him, yet he is a gay guy championing a “gay civil rights movement”.
Wayne
Heath Rocks!
Sean H-.
Gavin, here’s what I think you were trying to say… which I would agree with… Heath opens the video saying how Americans don’t want to act unless something affects them personally… and yet gay rights contradicts this on two counts: straight people not affected at all by the issue are passionately involved and many gay people who are affected do not care. While this minor point may need clarification, I don’t think it’s any reason to attack Heath, who I’m glad to say is being active in a good way.
schlukitz
I found this video very moving. You go, Heath!
Pop Snap
Uhhm make him our MLK/Susan B anthony please.Pleaseeeee.
Please?
=]
prate
Tucker , the Man and his Dream II
nice score
merkin
Im supportive of anyone who puts the time and energy into fighting the good fight. Im just dubious of those thousands of homos who think they’re doing anything by signing some online petition. As we move more and more into the electronic age, people are doing less while thinking they are actually working to effect change. Real grassroots work is long and tedious–making phone calls, sending envelopes, going before city council boards. Its not changing your middle name to “marriage equality” on Facebook,
schlukitz
@merkin:
Your post has something to do with something, I imagine?
Umm…how does this relate to what Heath Tucker is doing?
AlwaysGay
Prop 8 was a big negative, gay people’s rights were taken away and set into the state constitution.
Anon
Boy the difference a haircut makes.
Brian
Ultimately it comes down to what people believe – unfortunately for gays and lesbians, the people believe homosexuality is a sin and that it is wrong. They got that from Religion.
Until we change those beliefs we will never have equality.
jason
It’s great to see someone who is more interested in activism than in nightclubbing.
galefan2004
@Sean H-.: I totally have to agree. In many organizations that fight for gay rights there are more straight people championing the cause than gay people. However, that is because gay people have been beaten down for the last 40 years and when you combine apathy with being discriminated against its much easier to just want to survive than to get involved. I honestly believe that if we can get ENDA passed and end employment discrimination therefore ending the number one reason gays don’t want to get involved (that they won’t have a job the next day in many cases) we will see a much larger amount of gays willing to come out and get into the cause. This is also a reason that it is much easier for the younger generation. The younger generation was raised in a time that families were much more willing to support them and their ideals. They were also raised in a time when it stopped being common practice to teach homophobia. They don’t see the same oppression as the older generations so their focus can become fighting for rights not overcoming oppression.
galefan2004
@Pop Snap: He is different from MLK and SBA because he is not an assimilationist. Like it or not, the face for gay rights has to be an assimiliationist in order to get the majority of the country to listen to them. If the first thing the country thinks when they see someone is that they are gay then the first thing they are going to do is ignore them.
galefan2004
@AlwaysGay: You guys honestly act like Prop 8 was a new concept. In 2004 about 8 states passed legislation much worse than Prop 8. No one really gave a damn then. That legislation passed with 75% of the vote in some states. That legislation also removed the ability to have state wide domestic partner registries in the states it was passed in. Unless you guys honestly think a lot happened in 5 years to change everything in this country, you fail to show that the majority of the states (because that is what it will all come down to in the end) suddenly give a damn about gay rights.
galefan2004
@jason: They are not mutually exclusive. Hell, in many places in this country those nite clubs are on the forefront of the gay rights movement in the area.
Sam
Here’s a video on the young lesbian couple he worked with to put on the protest. Just to give the girls a shout out too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HAiaD0yDE
schlukitz
@AlwaysGay:
Prop 8 was a big negative, gay people’s rights were taken away and set into the state constitution.
That’s the way fascism works. It gets it’s foothold by taking away the rights of minority people.
It worked well in WWII Germany. No reason why it shouldn’t work here. And as it just so happens, the the economic conditions here in the US are perfect.
Germany was in a deep depression when Hitler came to power. They had to blame it on someone and the Jews just happened to be at the bottom rung of the ladder in the late thirties.
And the rest, as they say, is history!
Andrew
So, 10,000 people together in NYC? What does Cleve have to do to get Queerty’s kudos? How many people on the Lawn in October?
Remind me why anyone thinks a “group of shouting people” accomplishes anything? The only group of shouting people that could change my mind would be an angry mob. I’d run away.
Marches are so 2000-and-late.
schlukitz
@Andrew:
Marches are so 2000-and-late.
Absolutely!
Just hoist another Budweiser, grab your TV remote control and settle back in your leather-covered recliner for a re-run of Law and order.
I mean…it’s not your problem, right?
M Shane
No. 20 · schlukitz : YOU ARE SO RIGHT!
“I mean…it’s not your problem, right?”
Americans as a whole have gotten so apathetic and cowardly that it’s sickening. Nowhere else. When Bush attached iraq 26 million people demonstrated around the World. No one in America ! The last time Americans showed an interest in anything was Vietnam: marches closed down the War. I saw the movie”Battle for Seattle” which happened in 1999 and closed out the World Trade Organization (Global Crooks). Watch films of other people in other countries who care. Our world is going down the tubes fast and everyone acts like they’re in a druged stupor. Most likely it will be too late when anyone figures out what should have happened.
The web is a nice way to organize people but we still need to demonstrate and put our asses on the line to be seen.
Brian
Demonstrate “WHAT?” That we can throw a party? There is simply no STRATEGY to the idea that we’re going get together and “complain.”
The whole Gay Inc. world has no new ideas or strategies or even Plans to really change anything.
I’m very anxious to do something for our equality – but, give me the “something.”
Cleve’s March on Washington will cost $250 million (500,000 people spending $500 on the trip and refreshments)of the gay community’s money. Isn’t there something better we can do with that kind of money? Think of something and start a “March” or “gathering” online – but, have a strategy and a purpose.
schlukitz
@Brian:
Thank you for making my point.
According to you, the Stonewall Riots in NYC and the White Night Riots in San Francisco were just a big waste of time and money too.
I mean, why bother doing anything? It’s all just a big waste of time and money, no matter how you approach it, right?
I’m very anxious to do something for our equality – but, give me the “something.”
That says it all in a nutshell. You’re just sitting back and waiting for someone to “give you something”.
Your apathy and that of Andrew is just appalling.
M Shane
@No. 22 · Brian :
In this case, it will MAKE politicians aware that there is a sizable group of people who care about certain issues.
I think that politicians believe that we are a bunch of lazy spoiled apolitical queens siting around waiting for something to happen.
I agree with you the respect that I don’t believe that the gay community, to the degree that there is one , has an important set of agendas. The biggest to me is Employment and Hate Crimes. DADT would seem important to me if we ever fought a legal war: not in complicity with Big Business., and if the military was necessary instead iof a threat. I think that if we showed up re; Civil Unions or something more consistent with our lifestyles, we would move people. It is important to show that there are a lot of us who are not about to back down before these Religious douchbags.
Generally, gay people need to believe in themselves enough to believe that we can make a difference to larger issues, especially hoose affecting marginalized groups.
Brian
@schlukitz: Stonewall Riots in NYC and the White Night Riots in San Francisco – Ahhh 30 and 40 years ago.
We live in a different world. It’s not like we are “oppressed” as much as we are hated. Gays have been defined (by Religion) to be wrong, deviant and sick. Marches don’t do anything to change those beliefs – nothing.
Figure out how to change the “beliefs” about homosexuals and you may be on to something. Marching around won’t change any beliefs or get any politician to change their minds.
We must win this battle by re-defining “gay.” Only that will work. Well, ending religion will help… a lot.
RainaWeather
testing
schlukitz
@Brian:
Oh, c’mon now. Your argument, and I give it more credence than it it is entitled to by calling it an argument, that marches don’t do anything to change those beliefs it is not only baseless, but undermining the efforts of those who were willing to put their life and limb on the line to help obtain your rights.
I mean, were you actually there that you can speak so deprecatingly about the work your fore bearers did to gain the rights you currently enjoy which I and others of that time did not?
How old are you, anyway? Twenty or thirty perhaps? How many years have you invested in the gay rights movement? What are you currently doing to advance the attainment of civil-rights and equality for LGBT people, besides sitting at your computer keyboard telling the rest of us what we should be doing? That isn’t going to change any beliefs or get any politician to change their minds either.
And what does re-defining “gay” mean? Do you really think for one moment, that all we have to do is find a nice, warm and fuzzy-sounding name for ourselves, re-invent and re-package ourselves in some attractive, straight-acceptable wrapping and the religious right will accept us with open arms?
Take another hit on your bong and dream on, dude!
Your condescending “Ahh30 and 40 years ago” comment is as demeaning as saying that the efforts of Susan B. Anthony were antiquated and useless in gaining women’s suffrage.
SM
@Brian:
There is but not enough LGBT people care. It costs @28 cents to mail a postcard. It costs me less than $2.00 a week to send the President a postcard daily asking for LGBT equality. He will get one until there is Equality.
The fact I’m doing this is no big deal. If the White House was getting millions of postcards from all over the country from people asking for LGBT Equality, I think they would pay attention.
I put a postcard in the mail each day~
http://www.postcardstothepresident.com/
Brian Miller
Sending postcards, having marches, apologizing for politicians, and “playing the game” are all a feel-good waste of time.
The thing that gets the attention of TPTB is $$$s.
Plain and simple.
Anti-gay banks lose billions in deposits, they re-evaluate their stances.
Anti-gay political candidates see millions vanish from their donation pool and head to their opponents, they re-evaluate their position (or get swept out of office).
Real change requires painful choices to abandon long alliances and affiliations, and real sacrifices.
There’s no difference between the “Facebook activist” and the shrieky ACT-UP activist who derides the former’s “laziness” for not attending rallies yet who ponies up cash and votes for Democrats every two years.
SM
@Brian Miller:
How many LGBT people are there in the United States? I have no clue but if there are one million (I’m betting there are more) you cant tell me millions of letters EVERY DAY to the White House would not matter.
There are tons of things you can do…You all but you all spend more energy cutting everyone else down.
Who the hell cares about a Kiss In? You all just want a WAR and fight back. Two extremes fighting. MILLIONS of LGBT people could rise up above the BS and prove many people wrong and make the people fighting you look like trash.
Someone comes up with a good idea…You all just bitch and moan. LGBT are NOT United, You do not have each others back and you should be OUTRAGED at that.
SM
@Brian Miller:
By the way your comment was WRONG…doing EVERYTHING you mentioned and not just ONE THING is a voice.
Money
Letters
EVERYTHING BY MILLIONS OF YOU
SM
@Brian Miller:
It takes me 30 seconds to put a postcard in the Mail to the President. You cannot tell me if Obama was getting MILLIONS A DAY and if Senators were getting MILLIONS A DAY, it would not matter.
30 seconds is HARDLY feel good waste of time AND I CAN SPEND MY MONEY AT GAY FRIENDLY PLACES and boycott others. I don’t donate to antigay politicians anyway. WTF?
Whats your excuse again for not mailing the President everyday about your equality again?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/postcards2prez/3219034627/sizes/l/
Brian
@schlukitz: Equating the struggles of blacks and women is an attempt to brand the hatred of gays as “oppression,” and the comparisons must end there. We are hated and feared more than we are oppressed. Religion did that.
The ONLY way our treatment will change is if we change the “beliefs” about gays. So, our fight is with religion. Not to be “accepted” or even “tolerated” by religion – because there is nothing wrong with us, but to render religion irrelevant.
If you want to get angry and make demands, please direct them at the institution that “made homosexuality wrong,” religion.
HRC and the other groups won’t do this because they are on a mission of “tolerance” and they actually finance a few religious groups. Only 1% of the 350,000 churches in the US “welcome” gays and lesbians – but, in their “fine print” still make homosexuality “wrong.” So, it’s just a marketing campaign or con-job, depending on your perspective.
Religion has defined homosecuality. We’ve been “branded” as sinners, deviant, perverts and worse by this institution – they are the enemy. Why not march over to Church and tell them you’re Not Wrong? Plus, stop giving them money.
Religion is “going out of business.” 1/3 of all young people (under 30) are now “non-religious,” the fastest growing group. In 40-50 years they will be the new majority. I’m not going to wait. We will never have “equality” as long as they continue to make us “wrong” and the ignorant continue to believe it.
That’s the fight. The beliefs.
galefan2004
@M Shane: What you fail to realize is that American’s have found much better ways to enact change than to take to the streets screaming and shouting. That only works in countries where people actually give a fuck what you say. No one really cares about protests in America. They just change the channel. Its pointless. However, since GW stormed Iraq, the entire government shifted away from his party, people got much more involved behind the scenes in politics, and the Democrats seized power. All of that was done without protests because of the volunteer effort of hard working men and women. No protests have actually had an impact in this country. It wasn’t the protest that had an affect on the Vietnam war effort it was the Kent State shootings. It wasn’t the civil right marches that had an affect on black rights it was the death of MLK. It wasn’t even the riots that had an affect on Stonewall it was the movement that came from those riots. Rioting is simply not an affective form of accomplishing anything in this country and its been show time and time again.
schlukitz
@Brian:
The church doors are open to all (I think)?
Knock yourself out.
Peter
How do we get the point across to the religious person that the only way they can keep their religion is to keep it out of politics? When religion gets into politics, there usually ends up one religion clashing with another. Most of the wars fought on this planet have occurred because of a religious confrontation with another entity with a different religion. Just look at the disputes in Iran, Iraq, Israel and the years of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition or the demise of Incas etc.
A person’s religion, is their religion. Therefore, that person’s religious rules are for them to follow; not for anyone not part of that religion. (Jews do not follow Christianity’s rules. Muslims do not follow Buddha’s rules.)
To put one’s religious rules into government guarantees that the minority is going to be discriminated against.b