Thursday, February 08, 2007

Will queer Dems finally refuse the back of the bus in 2008?

It's so rare to hear an LGBT Democrat suggest that it's acceptable to burn a couple of bridges with their party leaders in the quest for marriage equality. But David Mixner correctly points out that in the struggle for black civil rights, progress was only made when those in the movement finally prioritized equal rights over party loyalty:

Like other great civil rights campaigns, this fight will require fortitude. We won’t win this one without some nasty fights, anxiety that we may lose friends and even wholesale set backs. In the 1960s, as the battle against racial inequality raged, many state and local governments passed oppressive laws to stop justice from winning out. Even California passed an initiative rolling back fair housing legislation. This push back should be expected in a time of great social and legal change.


Now, David Mixner is quite influential with our friends the Stonewall Democrats, as well as with large national LGBT advocacy organizations and even the DNC. But the question is whether his will be the lone voice, or if other queer Democrats with recognizable names will decide that 2008 is finally the year to refuse to sit in the back of the Democratic Party bus.