What Really Matters?

On Thursday, June 25, about 25 people picketed a Democratic National Committee LGBT fundraiser headlined by Vice President Joe Biden. The small group of protesters were a visual manifestation of a considerably larger voice of objection: many LGBT bloggers had expressed their outrage that influential politicians, lobbyists, activists, and donors would choose to attend a fundraiser starring Biden in the wake of the Obama Department of Justice’s brief supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, and indeed a number of high-profile guests—including former DNC Chairman Howard Dean—dropped out of the fundraiser. The pressure mounted for openly gay congressional members Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Jared Polis (D-CO) to pull out. In the end, all of them showed up. Polis, in a recent interview with Campus Progress, said that he and his fellow gay Democrats "are certainly going to help our party raise money"; Baldwin, the Advocate noted, took a similar stance, but also expressed her support for the protestors’ right to voice their opinions as she entered the fundraiser.

Those who were outraged at any perceived hypocrisy on the part of Frank, Baldwin, and Polis, however, must not have been in attendance at a press conference for the re-introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) two days before the fundraiser. Frank seemed to speak directly to those who criticized his intent to appear at the dinner when he said, "Until we can get this done, people are welcome to ask for more. But if they don’t help us with this, there’s not a whole lot we can do … Don’t move on to the next issue without helping us get the votes for this one."

According to Frank, the House is on track to vote on hate crimes legislation this summer, ENDA in the fall, and repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell next year. The hate crimes law, which is named after murdered gay student Matthew Shepard, would add gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity to existing hate crimes legislation. ENDA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of bases on which employers cannot discriminate. Repealing DADT would permit LGBT soldiers to serve openly in the armed forces. In contrast to the blogosphere’s concerns, the LGBT members of the House seem confident that this legislation will pass the House and go on to have a strong impact on the LGBT legal landscape.

Unlike in 2007, when a debate over whether to include gender identity as a protected group in the bill resulted in massive infighting in the LGBT community, Frank said ENDA will protect those who identify as transgender. "I don’t think that’s an issue this year … we’re beyond that now," Frank said at the ENDA press conference. Sponsoring members of Congress were joined by representatives from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the AFL-CIO, and, of all people, Nike. They all seemed determined that ENDA will make it through the House unscathed and that this is the issue to focus on for LGBT rights at the moment.

Pushback seemed to be in vogue for the LGBT community last month: June 28 marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, widely considered to be a watershed moment in the LGBT rights movement, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back against police who raided the gay bar in New York City. And so perhaps it seems natural that, as this community looks back at its history, it should also recapture the sense of being opposed to an establishment structure that denied and invalidated its existence.

But that pushback is not exactly in sync with a legislative and social landscape that is very different from that of 1969. June 26 marked the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the nation’s sodomy laws; six states now permit same-sex marriage, and several more have passed anti-discrimination legislation. Not only has Frank taken on an inclusive ENDA bill, LGBT Americans are a visible and important constituency, getting represented in and by government more and more with every passing year.

The press conference that introduced ENDA, featuring three LGBT members of Congress and attended by a variety of lobbyists from LGBT advocacy groups and members of the LGBT press, could never have happened in the Stonewall-era landscape—nor could last week’s reception for prominent LGBT leaders at the White House. Although President Obama’s usual eloquence failed to convince many of the disillusioned of his commitment to the cause (thanks in part to his slow action on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and DOMA), Obama went farther than any president ever has in recognizing the important place of LGBT Americans in society and politics. He paid tribute to those who fought back at Stonewall, and said, "We must continue to do our part to make progress—step by step, law by law, mind by changing mind. And I want you to know that in this task I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a President who fights with you and for you."

Of course, a diversity of opinions has always characterized the social movements of this country, especially in the LGBT rights movement. Activists are entitled to be displeased with the executive branch’s delay on issues like DADT or DOMA, or to criticize vague and lukewarm in its interest in LGBT rights legislation. But it’s no longer necessarily the best strategy to use tactics that counteract LGBT Americans’ invisibility or disenfranchisement, because that’s no longer true across the board. The LGBT rights movement is now in a position to incorporate elected officials into the ranks of its allies—and while that doesn’t mean activists need to accept watered-down compromises, it does mean a shift in the way of thinking that sees government as the enemy.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Barney Frank risked a high school physics joke when he responded to a question about capitalizing on momentum, "Be careful of metaphors. I don’t know what [you] mean by momentum—the Congress is not a body at rest." But, at risk of sounding corny, perhaps he actually hit on the right metaphor. Congress’ determination to pass LGBT legislation demonstrates that it is, indeed, a body in motion that will remain in motion. It falls, then, to the LGBT activist community to determine what attitude it should take toward Congress and the administration—and it falls to the President to sign the legislation that Congress will, eventually, deliver to his desk.

Emily Rutherford is an editorial intern and staff writer at Campus Progress. She is a sophomore at Princeton University.