An Open Letter to the Glitterati

Dear Glitterati,

I get it. Seriously. I get the anger. I get the hurt. I get what it’s like for people to think of you as a second-class citizen. I get the frustration of not being treated equally under the law. I get it because I live it.

There are good ways and bad ways of going about expressing all of this.

What has never worked is violence and aggression. In the last month or two, all four of the remaining GOP presidential candidates have been glitter-bombed, some of them multiple times (or have experienced multiple attempts). This will not win anyone’s heart or mind to our cause. On the contrary, it will drive potential allies away. These aggressive acts will only have you (and by extension the rest of us) looking like an unruly mob as well as giving ammunition to those who seek to oppress us. You are taking people who are working to restrict our freedoms and instead of pointing out that they are perpetrators of discrimination, you are making them into sympathetic victims (and thus, winning support in their favor instead of ours). You are not helping yourselves, you are not helping the LGBT community, you are not helping the cause of equality, and you are NOT helping those who will come after us.

Speak the truth. Tell of your experiences with discrimination. Share your plight. Fight on the merits. I have always believed that the best weapon we have in the fight for equality is fact. The facts ARE on our side. When we share these facts with people and make our case, we win people’s hearts and minds. Also, the best thing any of us can do for the cause of equality is by being ourselves openly and unapologetically. It is by these means that we have made the progress that we have since the inception of the gay rights movement after Stonewall. It is by these means that this progress will continue on into the future.

Glitter-bombing is not the answer. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you will be of genuine help to the cause.

Sincerely,

Rob from Virginia

The Wrap-Up: January 25, 2012

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Who the Hell gives more money to the church than they pay in taxes? Why, Mitt Romney of course!

Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican president (1953-1961) and Supreme Allied Commander during World War II would be appalled by today's Republican party.

I'm sure no one is surprised that North Carolina conservatives are lying in order to fight against marriage equality in the state.

Rick Santorum was glitter-bombed...again. I definitely don't support Santorum, but I also don't support acts like these: they just make the perpetrators look crazy and it turns people like Santorum into "victims," giving them undue sympathy.

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)

I know that Republicans tend to be more pro-gun than Democrats, but seriously? In elementary schools?

As New Jersey may be on the road towards marriage equality, Governor Chris Christie says it should be put on the ballot...because voting on the rights of the few usually has a good outcome right?

A Virginia state senator has moved to counter a discriminatory decision made by the state's Board of Social Services regarding adoption policy.

And lastly, Jon Stewart takes on Newt Gingrich. Seriously, he's better at political punditry than the so-called experts.

The Daily Show
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Not So Friendly-Fire

I wrote a post about glitter-bombing a while back (which can be found HERE). It appears that this phenomenon has made something of a return, but in a somewhat worse manner. In recent days, Dan Savage (one of the men behind the "It Gets Better" campaign, a syndicated sex columnist, and the guy who caused Rick Santorum's Google problem) was glitter-bombed during a public appearance for his alleged transphobia. Before this, the primary targets of glitter-bombers were people like Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty, people who are decidedly against equality for the entire LGBT community. This latest incident was against no such person.

I'm not here to debate whether or not Savage is, in fact, transphobic. What I'm here to say is that the people who perpetrated this incident went about expressing their anger in an extremely wrong and inappropriate manner. If you are going to accuse someone of being transphobic, show the proof and make the case. Show the video evidence. Give us some audio. Show us some quotes. SOMETHING!!! The main reason I don't know if he is actually transphobic or not is that no one has made the case. All I know is he was accused and (sort of) assaulted. What they attempted to do was show Savage to be discriminatory against transgendered people. What they actually did was make Savage a victim with whom people would sympathize. Counter-productive.

In addition to this, there is the fact that the LGBT community needs to stick together to reach our common goal of equality. When we fight amongst ourselves like this (i.e. in a very childish looking manner throwing things about), all we get is the laughter of the people who would hold us down as, at best, second class citizens. Presenting a united front will help us far more in our quest of equal treatment under the law.

Glitter Bombed!!!

It has happened again. Another public figure has gotten glitter-bombed. The first time I heard this happen, it was to Newt Gingrich. This time, Tim Pawlenty during a book signing. He was glitter-bombed by a woman who was yelling at him over his stances on woman's reproductive rights and LGBT equality. For anyone who doesn't know, Pawlenty is a Republican, the former governor of Minnesota and is currently running for the GOP nomination for president. Among other things he is pro-life and anti-gay equality.

When I heard about the glitter-bombing, my first thought was to laugh. The entire concept of glitter-bombing just sounds funny. I thought about it for a little bit, and my opinion changed somewhat. Now I think that the whole glitter-bombing thing is counter-productive. While it is at least a nonviolent form of protest, I just think it makes the people doing it look a little crazy, even if their cause is one that I agree with. Thus I think that the glitter-bombers are doing a disservice to themselves and their cause. There is video of the incident below, and I have to say that the woman's yelling makes the entire situation worse.

Don't get me wrong, I have zero sympathy for Pawlenty or Gingrich, recent glitter-bomb victims. I am adamantly opposed to their views in many ways. Besides which, it's not like they were actually hurt. However, I don't believe that glitter-bombing, or anything of that sort, will do anything to change peoples' minds on gay rights or anything else...except in the wrong direction.