Who would you follow?
In the comments to Tuesday’s post, Mizuki highlighted a very good point: We, the gay community and our supporters, don’t have any real leader to follow. We don’t have a Martin Luther King, a Sojourner Truth, a Moses to lead us out of Egypt.
All right, that’s a little dramatic, but the point stands: we don’t have a single person to rally behind enough to give us faith, and regardless of your religious beliefs, faith in something is what drives you to get things done. Faith, motivation, a single unified message that says “We are one, we shall stand, we shall fight.” Instead we’re divided into a dozen, a thousand petty groups that squabble among each other just as much as we rail against the opposition; we can’t agree on anything, let alone which issue to tackle first. We’re too widespread, too preoccupied with other things, too many of us hidden, too many of us trapped in a feeling of helplessness. Martin Luther King could unify people across a nation. Who could do that for us?
Unfortunately, I can’t think of a single name off the bat. Some might say Barack Obama, as he is a charismatic bugger who tends to rally people to blindly support him - but while he might gather support in some areas, I don’t really see him as someone to lead on gay issues should he obtain the presidency. Same with Hillary, despite her pledges…and honestly, I can’t see myself following a call to action from any politician, unless they were so radically different that I actually felt that I could identify with them - and despite sharing a highly mixed heritage with Obama, I can’t identify with him. Don’t get me started on Hillary.
In the gay rights movement, I can’t even name anyone still living who’s made enough of an impact or any kind of significant contribution that I might even care who they are. A lot of that has to do with today’s social structure; if you aren’t a celebrity or a politician, people don’t pay attention to you and so few hear of your achievements no matter how major they may be. It’s a lot harder to lead a movement these days; people are too apathetic, too distracted by their cars, mortgages, and kids, too afraid to take a risk. Most would-be leaders - evangelists of the gay movement - give up before they even get very far, because trying to rally people to action is like trying to wade through sludge as thick as molten lead.
So enlighten me, since I admit that I’m somewhat sheltered and possibly just as apathetic. Is there someone you’d follow? Is there someone who could stand behind a podium and raise his or her voice to stir you to action and rouse your blood? If it came down to descending on Washington, gathering numbers greater than even the Million Man March:
Who would you follow in that march?
Why do I keep hearing the president’s speech from Independence Day in the back of my head?
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April 11th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
You, Adri. Seriously. I am an inveterate follower and I wouldn’t choose any of the current LGBT supporting celebrities, because they just don’t seem to care enough. And besides, I know of only a couple, and I don’t really like either of them. You and Lindsay are the only people I can think of.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
No one in the gay community comes to mind. I do not even know the names of the people who HAVE made significant advances in the last decade. There was that gay bishop… those people who sued to the MA Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage…
I cannot help but think the gay ‘community’, as it stands, is not so easy to rouse to action because it is so easy to blend in and pretend to be ‘normal’. Black people cannot pretend to be white, nor women pretend to be men, and so their causes have progressed much faster.
Just a thought.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I have….no real idols…Not really anyway. Like a child idolizes their comics, I idolize my anime characters. To name one? Goku from Dragonball Z for his never ending sense of justice and loyalty no matter the odds. He’s always been the strong one, even if he was knocked down he’d continue fighting even at the brink of death.
I’m sure that Goku would fight for gay rights because that’s just how great he is! No one, not his sons, his rivals, not even VEGETA would get on him about it because they know how Goku is, and can be confident he’ll fight the good fight until all resources are expunged or he has won that fight and he dies/disappears like he always does before coming back again to save us from another crisis.
Being a DBZ freak, I know what I’m talking about. I could totally write an encyclopedia… But Yes, I follow Son Goku–If he existed.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
You know, I think I’d follow Ellen DeGeneres. She has enough of a sense of humour to make the speeches interesting, and I trust her to keep an even keel while standing up for gay rights.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I think the gay movement may not have a leader partly because its lack of a religious background. Maybe this is because where I’m from, the most charismatic people around are preachers, but who knows? I know of the three people you mentioned, Moses was definitely a religious fellow, and the rhetoric of a lot of MLK’s speeches comes from a church-type background.
As for who I’d follow–well, I vote for me, but I’m not really much of a follower anyway.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
At first, I was going to take the creepy route and name you, Adri, but I don’t need anything else to prove I’m a lovesick puppy…
In all reality, I don’t know anyone who would warrant following. You mention Obama and Clinton…from what I remember of the LOGO debates, neither exactly seemed on top of any gay issues. Since I know damn sure McCain (despite how progressive he may be) would never do anything for us, that leaves us up shits creek when it comes to politicians.
Other than that, who’s done anything? What advances have we made? Most of our public figures are a laughing stock, exemplifying the stereotypes people have for gay people. Hell, some people within the gay community even disparage me for not being gay enough! Nothing good happens until we stop fighting one another, first.
April 12th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I would side with LATurner here, I think Ellen’s the one for the same reasons.
April 13th, 2008 at 6:58 am
In Belgium we have this organisation that makes sure the holebi-community never gets the short end of the stick. They keep an eye out when new laws are proposed, they point out discrimination in laws that already exist, they voice opinions and make sure discriminating commercials or articles are pointed out, and many more things. They have this really nice spokesperson who manages to really get people thinking, and the one time he called out for people to protest, he got to a lot of people.
I don’t know if the US has this one country-wide organisation, but if it does, wouldn’t its president or spokesperson reach enough people to make a difference?
April 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I want an army and thousands of brainwashed mind zombies…
April 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Amanda: …in this country, aren’t those one and the same?
April 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Ack, someone already said it.
You, Adri.