Dozens at SF Gay Marriage Meeting
I went to the Marriage Equality forum tonight at the state office building on Golden Gate Avenue with the expectation that it would be an insiders meeting for the lucky folks who attended the supposedly canceled November 20 meeting, and that for anyone who wasn't at the earlier meeting would be shit out of luck. My expectation proved true.
Starting a few minutes after 7 pm, Molly McKay grabbed a mic and began the session. Not a word was said about the November 20 meeting, this evening's agenda or any sort of intro for people who aren't members of the Marriage Equality choir.
We next heard from a young woman from the ACLU Northern California about some legal issues, Andrea Shorter of the Rustin Coalition about reaching out to black people, and Sister Barbi of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence about upcoming bus trips to Fresno, to show ourselves in counties where we lost on Prop 8.
At 7:25 pm, when nothing was said about the evening's agenda, never mind a written one on a poster, I interrupted McKay and asked if there was an agenda. She shot me a look of "must you derail my control queen show" and said there indeed was an agenda, and a policy wonk from McKay's group began distributing it.
McKay began a round of marriage-related announcements, for about 10 minutes. Heard some great ideas, like urging everyone to see "Milk" this weekend and push up to one of the top three flicks on the box office chart.
Then McKay issued directions about dividing into small groups, at which point I asked if it were possible to stay as one large group. Another sigh of irritation from McKay, who told the audience of my question, then dismissed it because a town hall forum would allow only 4-5 people to be heard. Several Sisters ordered me to be polite. Little groups are better to make sure everyone's voice is heard, McKay said, and with that people split into groups. I left at this point.
Looking back on what transpired, I see a few parallels with how McKay's crew has operated - not being up front about the November 20 meeting, not sharing the minutes from it on the Marriage Equality web site, making no effort to welcome anyone who wasn't present November 20 or aware of what was decided - with the disastrous No on 8 leadership.
If you need proof of McKay's lack of transparency, click here, visit her site and you will not find a single thing about the November 20 meeting. Same goes for any report or minutes on it.
Tonight's meeting should not be seen in any shape or form as having provided the San Francisco gay community with the forum we still need to hold the No on 8 leaders accountable for their mistakes. The meeting was one group's attempt, rather successful for them too, to organize their choir members.
Need I add that neither Geoff Kors nor Kate Kendell were in attendance? Also missing were any clearly identified Human Rights Campaign leaders.
I counted 102 people in the auditorium, which is a very decent turnout. Seeing McKay and crew tonight, and learning more about how they operate, it saddens me to say it won't be force the deliver the desperately-needed accountability from the No on 8 leaders. But I'm hopeful that activists in Los Angeles will provide the accountability reforms required of the gay movement, if we expect to move forward in a healthy fashion.
Totally convinced me San Francisco is not capable of providing the necessary leadership that will ensures we never again waste $40 million and allow ourselves to be shoved back into the closet by the gay Democrats who ran No on 8.
Here is a panaroma of pics from the meeting:
Mike
ReplyDeleteBravo - keep up the great work. Interesting how the leaders who want everyone to have the right to get married don't seem to understand the principle of free speech. I suspect that Town Hall forums are hard for Molly because they get out of "control" - i.e. angry queens just can't seem to stay on message and keep themselves from bringing up those inconvenient truths.
And when is the last time you saw any town hall forum where only 4 or 5 people's voices were heard (besides which, it is just a dopey phrase, "voices heard" - can it get any more vapid)? I mean, if we have over a million people protesting No on 8 in the streets - I would imagine that most people in that room for the Dec 4th meeting (cherry picked or not) would feel compelled to share their opinions and thoughts in an open forum and after discussion start working towards some sort of consensus. While people might vent some anger, they might also offer a few nuggets of wisdom or new ideas for moving forward.
At least Molly showed up and wasn't on a protracted vacation. These gay "leaders" are just too precious. I want a non-profit job where I can fail miserably at my core responsibility while getting paid hundreds of thousands of bucks, and then jet off at a moment's notice when it all becomes "too much".
Thank you for your coverage of this. As you know the LA end of things did a faux town hall with computer viewing and questions submitted ahead in writing, which did no more good in terms of progress than the one described on your site. It was just slicker, as befits the showbiz aspect of our locale.
ReplyDeleteFortunately Robin Tyler here in LA has the clout to do something and she and others would not settle for that and she has been point person in organizing a real town hall for this Sunday.
I will try to report and provide some shots for that meeting and get them to you.
Maybe something similar could happen in SF if this one goes well. There are so many great people in SF, they deserve a real forum too.
I think of those of us young, middle, old and decline to state who have been squeezed out of the "refuseniks" of our "community" - whatever collection of alphabet soup that is this week.