Stonewall 2.0 -- sizzle or fizzle

Clipboards are poison

From my experience with initiatives and petition drives, asking people to gather signatures is the most difficult thing to organize and attract participants.

The DOMA action was doomed to fizzle.

People like to march. They like to show off clever signs. They like to gather with like-minded folks.

A Valentine's Day rally followed by a dance is a great idea.


When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 14:05:44 PM CST

Perhaps...

Perhaps "Stonewall 2.0" isn't "national." Perhaps the "sizzle" will be seen on a local level, in places like Charlotte.

On Friday evening, a group of a dozen community members and leaders met in the Q-Notes office after being rounded up via email. In only two hours time we fleshed out several preliminary plans for activism and awareness events to take place in February, in response to something local and specific (but with national implications).

It's this kind of local activism that Prop. 8 and "Stonewall 2.0" has spawned -- the sense of urgency that local folks and leaders feel and their willingness to organize at the drop of a hat.

Pam, I'll be sending you more info on the Charlotte events later, definitely, as they firm up through this coming week.

"Without progress the world stays static and when the world stays static, the wrongs of the past live on to the present." Notes on a culture in progress Nov. 14 2006

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by: matthillcomer @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 15:01:00 PM CST

I agree.

I like the decentralized activitism.  The guy that is now "organizing" the Silver Lake protests is doing so because no one else stepped up to do the "light up the night'.  I couldn't go to my local Burbank protest (What? protests in beautiful downtown Burbank) because family was arriving from out of town...but I can't remember anytime a gay rights protest was organized for Burbank.

I try and go to any "Stonewall 2.0" (I'm still not sure what this means) activities here in the valley because nothing happens on this side of the hills in LA.  Protests here have ranged from 150 to 5 of us, but still we were out and visible in an area which doesn't get much notice.

I personally don't think that any protests or organized gathering should be critisized for action....what's the point of that?  

As for signatures for Obama...I haven't signed any nor passed any around.  I don't think Obama will make any movement towards repealing DOMA. but I certainly don't want to keep anyone else from thinking that he will. :)

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 16:05:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Poorly advertised saturday marches are poor places to collec signatures.

The point of the day was to collect signatures on a petition to Obama.  If you want to run a successful signature gathering campaign, you don't march unless you KNOW that there will be huge crowds (pride parade, protests/celebrations right after major social or political events).  You go where the sympathetic people are and you approach them under the auspices of an organization that they trust or looks trustworthy.  Join The Impact needs to get smarter and more sophisticated in their methodology.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners.

Lurleen on Twitter.

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by: Lurleen @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 15:06:53 PM CST

That's exactly what I saw

Actually, it was a few people trying to gather signatures from a sympathetic, yet unmotivated crowd.

I tried to work with groups in our area to come up with a signature gathering location that would work. We simply didn't have enough time.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 00:38:11 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Can it wait until spring?

I don't know if an event was planned for the Detroit area (I didn't hear about it), but we would have gotten poor turnout on Saturday anyway. Detroit got hit with 5-8 inches of snow yesterday and the high on Thursday will be about 7 degrees. Yeah, we're as pissed off about the state of our rights as everyone else, but winter in Detroit just isn't the place for outdoor events.

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by: Paul K @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 15:15:24 PM CST

It seems like

sizzle or fizzle should be determined by results. Sustaining that same visibility of those initial protests might have been nice, but I'm not sure what the practical benefit is; maybe the ability to sustain those crowd sizes is lessening because less that is relevant to needing crowds is happening right this instant. I'd be less curious about whether "stonewall 2.0" or whatever can keep up the pace now and more whether it can regain the pace once prop. 8 reenters the courts, or once lgbt rights legislation is introduced into Congress (or once enough time passes without it being introduced that it starts to get suspicious...)

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by: mcc @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 16:18:52 PM CST

or shizzle? hizzle? pizzle?

Agreed that the proposed canvassing as part of the DOMA actions was the kiss of death... it was too reminiscent of the perennial HRC clipboard sharks for me.  People show up for protests to do just that--protest--not organizing work.

Decentralized activism is all good and well, but it also risks a cohesive and consistent message.  Are we talking DOMA repeal or marriage equality today?  Or ENDA?  Or DADT?  Or the common threads between civil rights movements?  Or is it Organizer's Choice?

Perhaps, if we want Stonewall 2.0 to be more organic, it could be more spontaneous, instead of plotted, permitted, and published?  Governments in other countries have been toppled on the basis of swarming announced on a moment's notice via SMS--why isn't 2.0 adopting similar tactics to make attending to LGBTQ equality inescapable for lawmakers and other officials at every level?  The drag queens and other protests at Stonewall Classic snapped and sprung into action without leaflets, websites, and Facebook pages.

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by: greatwhitebear @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 16:41:23 PM CST

I did a regular google of "gay rights" news just now.

Results on the first page point to separate articles on demonstrations in Boise, Seattle, Witchita, Olympia, San Diego, Tallahasse, Olando, and Chicago.  That's just the first page or search results.

Doesn't seem like much of a fizzle to me.  When was the last time you read about a gay rights demo in Boise or Witchita for starters?  Any visibility is good news from now on.

Also, linked from RainbowZine was a entry on David Mixner's blog which calls for a comphehensive gay civil rights bill...combine ENDA, hate, crimes, SS benefits, immigration rights, etc instead of thry to do one at a time and failing over and over again....Yeah let's ask for everything everyone else already has....I'm for that for sure.

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 17:07:23 PM CST

Mixner link

http://www.davidmixner.com/200...

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 17:08:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Great point Karen ...

We were over at relatives and I looked at the San Jose paper: a large story with three pictures on the front page of the "local" section.  Positive.  Showing people (not just an abstract discussion).  Guess what, it led to a great chance to discuss the issues and the activism going on.  

jon

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by: jonpincus @ Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 03:18:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

religious right wins again!

Isn't this just what the gay community does best, criticize one another? You go girl! We will never get anywhere at with this tactic.

Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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by: T2inDC @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 18:17:16 PM CST

NC Against H8

We were really disappointed to have to cancel in Raleigh, NC for Saturday.  We're trying to be conservative when it comes to what people are willing to show up for and we felt a rally away from the capital just wouldn't have had the same impact.  So we focused more on getting signatures instead and are going to "save" ourselves for something bigger and NC-focused (Not JTI) in a couple of months.

That said I know a group of 30 or so rallied in Greenville, NC and I want to say congratulations to them. I'm from that part of North Carolina and that group is definitely on the front lines.

Peace,

Will Elliott

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by: WillnDurhamNC @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 20:42:45 PM CST

Greenville

I just found an article in the Greenville Daily Reflector about the small protest there on Saturday.  I encourage you to read the comments.  As a Tarheel born and bred I do hate to expose the ignorant among us but we'll we've all got 'em I suppose.

http://www.reflector.com/news/...

Again I want to congratulate that group for their courage.  Keep up your very important work!

Peace,

Will Elliott

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by: WillnDurhamNC @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 21:02:12 PM CST

let's get real

It has nothing to do with traction or the state of a movement - obviously, you cannot maintain a constant pace of ongoing demonstrations organized at the drop of a hat.  That will only happen once in a blue moon when people are fired up about something.  It is best and more realistic to keep these visible group activities to a select few in order to keep up a cause's momentum, and to avoid having one's message watered down by repetitive and less-newsworthy actions.

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by: nils @ Sun Jan 11, 2009 at 21:31:54 PM CST

I'm pretty optimistic about Stonewall 2.0 ...

... and think that a lot of the criticism reveals misset expectations and a lack of understanding of what's going on.  In late December I commented about the tone of Peter Staley's Join the (Diminishing) Impact and Dan Savage's Diminishing Impact in The Stranger's The Slog.  

Both have sensible advice for JTI -- keep the momentum up, learn from past actions, encourage local actions as well as the coordinated national ones -- but starting from the headlines they minimize the strength and trajectory of JTI and by extension the whole Stonewall 2.0 movement.   Savage for example helpfully excerpts and highlights Staley's descriptions of the three recent actions as having "failed to live up to this group's early promise" and critiques the lack of measurable objectives without bothering to mention that  Light up the Night had goals and met them.  What's with that?

Dan Savage in particular has never been particularly supportive of Join the Impact -- as I recall, his post before the November 15 protest was lukewarm at best.  I wonder if there's a generational thing going here; people Dan's age and older sometimes have difficulties with millenial-style inclusive, positive, network-oriented activism (not just in the LGTBQ world but elsewhere).  So I take his perspectives with a grain of salt.

Don't get me wrong, I also think there's plenty of room for improvement, and a lot to be learned from what has and hasn't worked so far.  Still, connections are continuing to deepen (Courage Campaign's involvement is very significant); and even more importantly, local organizers are stepping forward and local networks are building.  On the whole I see things on a path to a solid, sustainable, decentralized infrastructure -- with a long way to go, admittedly, but still.  It's only two months from the first post-election organizing.  The negativity seems remarkably premature.


jon

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by: jonpincus @ Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 03:35:50 AM CST

I listened to this one

I don't usually - work conflicts and I frequently find NPR less frustrating than Signorile.

He doesn't see the hypocrisy in his own position. He castigates people for "working within the system", then turns around and says you have to worry about what the little old lady down the street thinks.

I'm with the people who are sick and tired of being forced to justify equality.  

Cause any fool knows, a dog needs a home; a shelter from pigs on the wing

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by: QueerInSoCal @ Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 06:08:31 AM CST

Achievable Goals

It seems that all the criticism centers around the call for achievable goals, but what Dan doesn't seem to understand is that achievable goals have been set (and achieved) for all JTI events since the November 15th protests.  Light Up the Night, for instance, had a goal of reaching 1 million people to educate them on the many rights that members of the LGBTQ community do not have.  This night was an amazing success - we reached over 1 million people with our 5 Rights Holiday Cards and traffic to JoinTheImpact.com doubled over the next 3 days (reaching more traffic than the week leading up to November 15th).  Our membership grew and our ally base grew.  Saturday's events had a similar goal: Get 1 Million signatures on the Open Letter to Barack Obama.  Early numbers show that we are tracking to that goal, but we won't know for sure until all signature sheets are delivered and tallied.  The DOMA protest was not meant to be a huge event (and at no point did we say it would rival November 15th in numbers of people in the streets), it was meant to be one of 4 ways that people could maintain visibility and help us reach the goal of 1 million signatures.  At each event, people walked away with signature sheets and the challenge to go get 20 signatures per person.  If everyone who attended one of Saturday's 100 protests, fills one full signature sheet, we will far exceed 1 million signatures. I appreciate Dan's critiques, but it appears that even when we place our current goal in big bold red letters on the home page of our organizing wiki, he still seems to misunderstand what our goals actually are.  

Protests are not the only thing that JTI has done or will do.  They are just a piece of the visibility puzzle and one that keeps the conversation of equality going.  As I have mentioned before, when Matthew Shepard was murdered, our nation came together in vigil.  We brought immediate attention to the issue and for those in the movable middle, we opened eyes.  Now, 10 years later, the Matthew Shepard Act still hasn't passed.  Members outside of the LGBT community (and sadly some members within the LGBT community) still think that Matthew was the last victim of a hate crime.  Very few know that over 1000 members of the LGBT community are beaten or murdered each year because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  I attribute this to lack of visibility.  We all came together in vigil once, and then went back to our day to day.  If we give people an opportunity to ignore us, they will take it.  If we continue to be visible, then people will have to continue the conversation of equality.  Too often our community has let our visibility fizzle.  JTI is just one platform hoping to keep people active, and give everyone daily actions for personal visibility (project postcard, food drive) while also providing national actions to keep those in the movable middle engaged.  Clearly, we have a lot to learn, so let's take this as an opportunity to learn it together rather than apart.  When I put up a blog post calling for a national day of protest, I had no clue it would then turn into a national non-profit organization.  JTI is meant to be a voice of the people.  Our members asked for more, so we will continue to provide more, but if you don't like the way we do it, then please join the site and lend your thoughts and ideas to the cause. That's the best part of JTI... it's a platform for ALL voices to come together and organize.  The decisions being made are not by one or two people, they are by a community of people.  This is what makes JTI different from the rest - you have as much say in what happens with it as I do.  

To keep Stonewall 2.0 going, JTI can only be a piece of the process, not the end all be all.  If Dan has an idea of what to do next, he should act on it, not wait for JTI to put up a call to action and then criticize that call to action instead.  If he wants JTI to be a part of his idea, then he should join the site and rally people around it.  I think that Dan Savage is an important voice in the LGBT community and one that I have often admired.  Something tells me that he has some good ideas looming, so I encourage him to express them.

JTI began with a national call to unite as one voice.  We will never succeed if we divide our community from the inside out while our opponents try to divide us from the outside in.  If JTI has done nothing else, it has shown us that anyone's voice can count in this movement. Maybe in a few months another org will be carrying the torch, maybe it will be JTI... all that matters is that Prop 8 pushed us all into activism in some way or another.  Some great ideas are out there circulating on the web.  Get behind what you believe in and keep the visibility going.  You are the Impact.

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by: amyJTI @ Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 13:22:44 PM CST

Hey, Amy, thanks for the personal visit here at the Blend

As I wrote above in my brief post, all jointtheimpact events I've been to I feel have been successful...whether my group was as small as 5 or several hundred, that's just it, we were a group, we were out there, we were visible in my community.

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Tue Jan 13, 2009 at 12:17:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Chiming in

It is a great thing to have new communities organizing and increasing their visibility. Bravo for JTI for facilitating this process!

Where things can be problematic is in communities with an existing LGBT infrastructure and activists.  

Right now I don't want to go to the JTI web page to see what is going on there. I am paying attention to what the people in my community are doing and asking for. It is difficult to see suggestions such as go here and chime in when I am wondering why JTI doesn't do that itself? I would like to see JTI reach out to the organizations already in place in communities. I recognize that it is difficult to listen to the needs of California vs North Dakota right?  

I want to say that I am hearing the exact same stories from around the country, of new schisms created by people who want to follow the JTI suggestions vs folks who have been organizing for a while.  What about our own community needs?  Marches and visibility are one tactic. They are important but they aren't the only thing we need to be doing.  However, it is much more exciting for folks to go on a march every month than learn to be a public speaker and tell their story to a local business organization, or faith group, etc.  

Last night our group met and were handed a note saying that JTI was going to do an event with Marriage Equality USA in our area in Feb.  So why didn't someone say something to the local community group before this announcement was made so everyone could work together?  

It would be very helpful for JTI to encourage new activists to check out what organizations already exist in their communities to hear what the community is already focusing on.

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by: miss wild thing @ Tue Jan 13, 2009 at 01:19:59 AM CST

Boycott is working at Sundance

"The gang from /film is already in Park City, where it appears tickets aren't going fast for the festival's usually competitive public screenings. "Just for the heck of it, we decided to head over to the Sundance Film Festival Box Office in Gateway Center and were surprised to learn that tickets were still available for more screenings than not for most of next week." Great! Someone save us a seat at the Bronson premiere."
   http://defamer.com/5131228/tod...
I also read a gay group of skiers cancelled a UT trip.
Business at restaurants is less than 80% of other years.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 00:19:45 AM CST