LGBT Civil Rights: I Will Now Be a "Single Issue" Activist. [View All]

I have spent over 40 years of my life working in Democratic candidates' campaigns. Forty years. I have been a delegate to two national conventions, eight state conventions, phone banked, stuffed envelopes, canvassed perhaps as much as 1,000 miles of neighborhoods, donated close to $100,000 of my own money, sacrificed my free time, lost friends who were Republicans, alienated much of my conservative family and more.

All those years, this gay man (once a mere Democratic teen in the 1960's), I have fought for union rights, civil rights for non-whites, for women's rights and their reproductive rights, for farm workers, for migrants, for immigrants, for the homeless, for prisoners' rights including the right to vote, for better schools and better pay for teachers, for garment workers, for cleaner water, cleaner air and a cleaner earth. I have also been a animal rights activists. Moreover, I was an organizer against the War in Vietnam, marched against Bush's wars in the Middle East and have been a life long pacifist. I have been "there" for most every progressive battle the Left has waged inside and outside the Democratic Party. And all of that time, I have worked for the Civil Rights of my LGBT sisters and brothers.

And I'm proud of all of that and would not take back one minute of my life and how I've led it.

But after 40 years, I am qualified to say this: there has been very little "reciprocal altruism" by the Left and even less so by the Democratic Party. It is absolutely shameful that the vile "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy --that tells young men and women to lie about who they love -- was challenged by the Log Cabin Republicans and that it was Republicans who won this federal court case declaring it unconstitutional. Ponder that. Ponder the fact that it is Ted Olsen, another Republican, who signed on to fight for LGBT marriage rights.

Reflect on this: American history will now record that the right for "gays in the military" to serve was won in a federal court by a Republican Party group. That is a disgrace to the Democratic Party.

So, it comes down to this: I no longer have "patience" with those on the Left and those in power within the Democratic Party who have always found it convenient to push LGBT civil rights to the back of the agenda. I'm beyond just being nauseated with cowardly admonitions to "have patience" and "these things take time" and "there are other pressing issues" and blah, blah, blah.

I doubt that there are very few here who have given as much as I have over my lifetime on behalf of the Democratic Party. To those who have, I salute you, I honor and treasure you...and you have more than my gratitude, you have my love.

But now, after 40 years, there is no more important or urgent matter to me than the god-damned basic civil rights that every American freely enjoys, that is with the "single" exception of one class of people. Guess who? The LGBT community. We are the sole group of Americans who are denied our civil rights in housing, in employment, to serve openly in the Armed Forces when we bleed and die for this nation. We are not only denied marriage rights, we don't even have federal protections of our "unions".

So, now I will proudly become that marginalized person on the political field who is dismissively called a "single issue" person. Yeah. That will be me. Because it seems fair to conclude that this is the only "single issue" that the Democratic Party is always willing to delay, to postpone, to kick down the road. It's the "single issue" that is always put on the bottom of any priority list. And whenever it finally rises to the top of the list, well how quickly more "urgent" issues appear. Coincidence? Not hardly.

No one ever needs to tell any of us in the LGBT community that we make some people squirm, we make them feel uncomfortable. We've gotten that "message" loud and clear from the very day we were born. Keep in mind, our Gaydar is not just an instinct for identifying others like us, but it also is very adept at clocking not just overt homophobia, but also at recognizing the nuanced and coded language used by many who call us their "friends" as we painfully discover they never were friends at all. And, finally, there those who know that they are inept at using coded language when engaging with us and so they identify themselves by their deafening silence and their absence whenever our "single issue" comes up. It's the "single issue" where they are always found missing in action.

And then, there are those blessed heterosexuals who have no dog in our LGBT fight, but who I've seen show up, stand up, speak up on my tiny minority's behalf. To be frank, there really haven't been that many of you, but to those who did, let me assure you: you are never forgotten and you will always loved. The kid who is bullied never forgets the one person that stood up to the bullying while everyone else wouldn't. We know who you are and we always remember and count you as a real friend, who was a friend in deed.

So, yes, the economy is important. Ending war is important. And so is rescuing a cat from a tree is important. It's just prioritizing, isn't it?

And now, here at the end of 2010, nothing has a greater priority to this old homosexual than the basic Civil Rights of my LGBT community. I do not want any young LGBT Americans to have to endure the bullshit and second right citizenship that my companion and I have all of our lives. I want to leave them a better world than I found it.

So, until the Democratic Party puts our civil rights -- our basic civil rights -- up front and does something about it, I will be a Single Issue Activist.

David Zephyr is a Single Issue person. And proudly so.